SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 19 January2021 - Despite more than half of employers (52%) reportinginsufficient employees with the right skill sets to achieve current businessgoals, not enough is being done to upskill or reskill employees. Only one thirdof employees (32%) agree or strongly agree that their company provide them withthe right training opportunities to enhance work performance, and almost half(47%) are not confident that their current job will be able to support them intheir career growth.

These are some key findingsfrom NTUC LearningHub's (NTUC LHUB) The New Normal of Sector Skills report. Thereport gathered perspectives of 367 business leaders (senior managers ordirectors and above) and 567 full-time employees working in Singapore with theaim to assess the adequacy of training and employment opportunities foremployees across six major industry clusters.

In response to the lack oftraining opportunities to enhance work performance, only one in four employees(27%) agree that their potential is maximised at their workplace, and a largemajority of employees (71%) wish that their company provided more support tohelp with the upgrading of skills.

Additionally, according toemployees the 'lack of initiative from a company' is one of the top reasons that they do not upskill (34%). The otherreasons include lack of time for training (55%), unsure of the skills toupgrade in (42%), unsureof the types of training resources (36%), as well as not knowing whereto begin (33%).

On the other hand, whilemajority of employers (84%) indicate that it was necessary for the employees tolearn new skills due to changes brought about by COVID-19 to the business, only65% say they have been training their employees since the pandemic hit.

Commenting on the findings,NTUC LHUB's Chairman, Eugene Wong says, "The pandemic has made the upskillingimperative more pressing hence providing the right training opportunities foremployees would strengthen companies' competitiveness in the face of futuredisruptions. Companies must transform through new business models but in orderto make strides, their employees must be equipped with the relevant skill setsto deliver their new roles and responsibilities. Employers must act now toelevate their workforce competencies so that they will be well-poised topersevere and prosper in the New Normal."

In addition, NTUC LHUB's DirectorInstitute Of Business Excellence And Healthcare Academy, Jenaline Low adds, "Forthose who are looking to jumpstart the upskilling of their workforce, it is keyto invest in learning and development capabilities to assess and align theworkforce skills requirement to the organisation's strategic business goals. Using a Design Thinkingapproach to identify skills gaps will help decision-makers succinctly identifyareas for skills upgrading and discover employees' strengths to optimise theirfull potential. To add, we urge companies to leverage training support andsubsidies available to them such as the Enhanced Training Support Package and EnhancedAbsentee Payroll, which are helpful to defray the training investment cost withcourse fee and absenteepayroll subsidies."

To download The New Normal of Sector Skill report,visit https://www.ntuclearninghub.com/sector-skills-report-2020

About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub is theleading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims totransform the lifelong employability of working people. Since ourcorporatisation in 2004, we have been working employers and individual learnersto provide learning solutions in areas such as Cloud, Infocomm Technology,Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety& Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker Training.

To date, NTUC LearningHubhas helped over 25,000 organisations and achieved over 2.5 million trainingplaces across more than 500 courses with a pool of over 460 certified trainers.As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forgepartnerships and offer a wide range of relevant end-to-end training solutionsand work constantly to improve our training quality and delivery. In 2020, wehave accelerated our foray into online learning with our Virtual Live Classesand, through working with best-in-class partners such as IBM, DuPont SustainableSolutions and GO1, asynchronous online courses.

For more information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.