As companies adopt technology in their business processes, workers need to evolve to meet this shift in the future of work, said NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Desmond Tan.
Mr Tan was speaking as a guest-of-honour at the virtually held Human Capital Singapore-Workforce Singapore (HCS-WSG) Masterclass Series on 19 July 2022.
The masterclass series aims to keep businesses, employers and workers updated and relevant with ground-sensing and thought leadership perspectives on trends from industry experts.
During his opening speech, Mr Tan said: “It’s becoming clearer that jobs need to be reviewed and redesigned to match the future of work, as well as the profile of the workers that we are expected to have.”
Mr Tan was joined by Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Chee Hong Tat at the event. During which, Mr Chee officiated the launch of another HCS masterclass series called The Richard Magnus Job Redesign Change Management Series.
Both Mr Tan and Mr Chee said that job redesign is an important area of workplace innovation. They added that NTUC could help companies transform and grow while ensuring that workers' training needs are cared for through the congress’ Company Training Committee (CTC) initiative.
Mr Chee added: “Job redesign is important to ensure that the nature and scope of the jobs in our economy will continue to evolve to stay relevant to meet changes in technology and business models.
“Against the backdrop of an ageing society and a tight labour market, we need to continue investing in our people and enhancing the quality of our jobs.”
For companies with a CTC set up, Mr Tan reiterated the $70 million grant announced by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at Budget 2022.
Companies with a CTC established with NTUC-affiliated unions will be able to tap into this grant from August 2022.
“I encourage and call upon all companies with CTCs to leverage both the CTC grant and the Richard Magnus Job Redesign Change Management Series to support your company’s transformation and business plans,” added Mr Tan.
The Richard Magnus Job Redesign Change Management Series is a pilot series by HCS and NTUC’s LearningHub (LHUB).
The series is supported by funding from NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
The late Mr Magnus was the former chairman at HCS before his untimely passing on 14 March 2022. In honour of his contributions to the Labour Movement, HCS and LHUB have named the masterclass after him.
The programme aims to encourage stakeholders to move beyond their comfort zone to repurpose and reset the job roles of the future economy.
Interested parties can find out more about HCS various masterclass series at its corporate website.
