The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) issued a policy paper on Thursday (May 12) recommending steps to support the needs of the services sector, including reclassifying different businesses within the sector. This would allow them to have more foreign workers in order to fight the manpower shortage.
The steps would enable businesses to have the workers they need in the light of reopened borders and the resumption of tourism, social, and business activities. “There is an urgent need to recalibrate manpower supply in the Services industries to enable companies to operate at optimal capacity, so as to deliver the level of service that Singaporeans and visitors expect,” SBF said in the policy paper.
The SBF also recommended that personnel who worked in pandemic-related jobs be moved to the services sector.
“As the demand for temporary jobs relating to the enforcement of safe management measures tapers, there is scope for workers to be intentionally redirected to the lifestyle services with close coordination between the agencies hiring these workers and NTUC’s e2i, and businesses tapping on various government schemes to offer good jobs in adjacent customer-facing roles,” it said.
It added that in the past two years, companies in food services, retail, hotels, nightlife, waste management, cleaning, security, landscaping, and other facilities upkeep services have coped during the Covid-19 pandemic and are now “positioned to emerge.”
Three critical success factors, developed in close consultation with trade associations and chambers (TACs) were outlined in the paper, namely “(A) Talent – a diverse pool of players and intentional line-up selection, (B) Teamwork – a synergistic effort to improve manpower utilisation and allocation, and (C) Rules – A more targeted and nuanced manpower policy.”
The paper said that while manpower needs are expected to be met more fully as the country adjusts to living with Covid, this is not entirely true for the services sector.
It said, “The reality on the ground is a record rise in job vacancies with the ramp-up in economic activity, but met with difficulties in filling job vacancies, which reflects the growing mismatch of skills and attitudes in the labour market.”
“To maintain Singapore’s reputation as an efficient and vibrant business and leisure destination of choice, the services industries need access to suitable and sufficient manpower to support their operations and even as they double down on automating processes and redesigning jobs, businesses still need to be able to recruit and retain sufficient local and foreign manpower.”
SBF is happy to be able to work with fellow TACs to put together this policy paper. We look forward to working with fellow TACs, our member companies, NTUC and government agencies to follow-up on the key actions outlined in the paper,” Mr Lam Yi Young, the CEO of SBF, said.
SBF’s policy paper may be found here. /TISG