Amid Prevalent Skills Mismatch, Workers with Skills Gaps Not Prioritised for Training

• Skills mismatch continues to be the most
  prevalent form of mismatches (63%) according to business leaders
• Workers with skills gaps are not the top
  priority for training (15%), as compared to workers with high potential (45%)

SINGAPORE
– Media OutReach – 10
September 2021 –  As companies and workers transition into an
endemic world, upskilling remains a key driver to build new capabilities and
soar forward. According to business leaders however, skills mismatch continues
to be the most prevalent form of mismatches (63%). This is in comparison to experience
mismatch (18%), wages mismatch (17%), and expectations mismatch (2%). Business
leaders also revealed that workers with skills gaps are not the top priority
for training (15%), as compared to workers with high potential (45%).

These
were some of the key findings from a recent labour research on the Future of
Continuing Education and Training by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC),
in partnership with NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB). The research surveyed a total
of 564 business leaders across industries in Singapore, such as Manufacturing,
Information and Communications, Financial and Insurance Services, Wholesale and
Retail Trade, and Professional Services.

In
further upskilling high potential workers, 67% of employers claim that they offer
talent development programmes in the form of job rotations (65%),
cross-department collaborations (60%), and secondments to other departments or
companies (47%). However, only one-fifth (26%) of business leaders consider
more than 40% of their employees as “high-potential”. This implies that a significant
portion of workers lose out on upskilling, as they are less prioritised to
receive training.

Commenting
on the findings, Mr Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC and
Director, NTUC Strategy, says, “I’m happy that NTUC LHUB undertook this
important research with NTUC’s Strategy Team. A workforce is as strong as its
weakest link. To build resilience, companies must ensure that each and every one
in their workforce is continuously ready for what is next. By raising the
competency of the entire workforce, businesses enable themselves to build new
capabilities, and remain relevant. At NTUC, we are continuously innovating to
effectively help both companies and workers. Through our Training and Placement
ecosystem, we will provide support through an integrated suite of customised and
timely solutioning such as strategy planning, job matching, leadership
development, and enabling funding of training and technology implementation.”

NTUC
LHUB Chairman, Eugene Wong, comments, “When companies upskill their existing
workforce, they are not only realising business value, but also improving
engagement and retention of employees. Investing in employees also gives them
the confidence to apply newly gained skills and knowledge to value-add to the
organisation. For this reason, I strongly urge companies to relook  their training priorities to address the
skills mismatch. At NTUC LHUB, we observe that many businesses require help in
identifying skills gaps in their workforce. We always recommend them to embark
firstly on a skills competency mapping or training needs analysis exercise, so
they can close the skills gaps and invest in targeted upskilling strategies
that will meet business objectives.”