Manufacturing employers receive a handbook to help them attract and retain talent
SINGAPORE – Faced with the shortage of skilled workers in the manufacturing sector, Singapore has released a handbook to help companies, especially smaller ones, attract new talent and recognize and retain their existing staff.
Launching the handbook on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said manufacturing in general and advanced manufacturing in particular were seeing a record number of unfilled skilled jobs around the world.
“If no action is taken, the manufacturing potential cannot be realized,” he said, referring to the Republic’s plan to reinvigorate its manufacturing center with advanced and innovative technologies.
“We need to make manufacturing jobs more attractive. Existing workers need to continually upgrade their skills, and more needs to be done to recognize and retain them,” he added.
Mr. Heng said the handbook will provide companies with human resources (HR) best practices, tools and templates.
“It will help small businesses develop and adopt progressive human resource strategies to meet their growth needs,” he said. during the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Industrial Transformation event at EXPO Singapore on Tuesday.
Heng also unveiled at the event updated industrial transformation maps for Singapore’s five advanced manufacturing and trade clusters, aiming to boost production and create at least 13,400 new jobs by 2025.
The Manufacturing Employer Handbook was developed by the Singapore Precision Engineering and Technology Association (Speta) and the Institute of Human Resource Professionals.
The preparation of the handbook was announced earlier this year by the Department of Trade and Industry as part of its Manufacturing 2030 Careers initiative.
MTI then said the handbook will cover a range of human capital best practices and resources to help companies develop structured career progression paths for their employees.
The plan also called for Speta to identify and work with at least 20 committed companies to drive the adoption of these practices and pathways.
Heng noted that the critical need to attract and retain talent is as much a company effort as it is a collective industry effort.
Therefore, Singapore launched a SkillsFuture Queen Bee program last year.
“This program aims to recruit 40 large companies or queen bees, to train more than their actual needs, so that excess trained workers can benefit 4,000 small companies.
“40 for 4000. This is an industry-led solution,” he said.
