Workforce of the Future
Madam, I have observed three trends that will change the face of the workforce of the future in Singapore.
One, trends that are closer to home, the Singapore labour market:
(a) Trimming of the foreign workforce;
(b) Rise of the blue-collared workforce;
(c) Entry of more fresh graduates into the workforce with the new targeted 40% university enrolment rate per cohort; and also
(d) The continued push for productivity improvements through IT, process engineering, job enrichment and lifelong learning.
Two, trends that arise from the unstoppable pace of a digital global world.
This is an age where work is not bound by geography; where learning is not confined to physical classrooms and face-to-face lecturers. This is the age of not only full-blown Massive Open Online Courses but also simpler "playlist-type" of learning model where digital citizens can personalise what they want to learn, sometimes from just YouTube or Google education channels without being obliged to take full certification courses.
Three, trends that relate to an expanded and changing pool of contributors to work.
Beyond the confines of the enterprise wall with its core set of permanent staff is a critical new extended workforce – a global network of outside contractors, outsourcing partners, vendors, strategic partners and other non-traditional workers. Many of them may be one-man self-employed workers or "portfolio workers" who serve several clients; whose work can range from being gardeners to plumbers to webmasters to bookkeepers or even lecturers. Some are partners in small start-ups, similar to the founders of companies like Facebook and Whatsapp in their early days.
I have three recommendations for the Ministry's consideration as it maps manpower plans for the future.
One, MOM should update the mode of teaching and learning of the 21st century workforce in the new CET masterplan it is developing.
Three groups of people that make up the workforce of the future in the next decade and beyond will need different types of learning support:
One, the digital natives who are born into the world of iTune, smartphones, apps and playlists;
Two, digital migrants – many of us here – those who have to learn how to retool and learn to work in the world of digital tools and language;
Three, digital outcasts – those who, for various reasons: age, ability or deprivation – are aliens in the digital world and are at risk of being outcasts forever if they are not supported.
For all of them, it is important to identify and develop the core skills and prioritised elective skills that each group needs in order to maximise their full potential.
Even for vocational skills training, there is room for current MOM-approved CET solutions to move from a more traditional face-to-face methodology to a more updated pedagogy. For instance, to learn how to make a bed, it is likely that a typical WDA trainee will be taught through face-to-face Powerpoints and demos from a trainer. How much more efficient and consistent it is if there are online resources such as good quality bed-making YouTube clips that will allow the trainer to repeatedly use to ensure a consistent best way to make a bed; and the trainee, if he is able, to first learn at his own time, pace and place and then meet his trainer face to face for more individualised coaching? Blended online-face-to-face instructions; and flipped classrooms are already common practices in the education system.
I urge the Government to provide more funding to allow MOM to source learning content, pedagogy and assessment that are more relevant to the 21st Century.
Two, MOM should study the profile of the new extended workforce and include them in the Ministry's efforts to attract, train, develop and retain talents. The CET masterplan and any other efforts to improve productivity through schemes such as the PIC should seriously take into account self-employed individuals or smaller-scale local employee-owners.
Lastly but not least, I urge MOM to take an even stronger interest and be one of the lead ministries to innovatively identify and stitch jobs and contracts for those who are at risk of being left behind – the elderly and those with special needs. This cannot be simply left to charity and compassion. If properly trained and supported, they can perform many work tasks for the Government and other employers; and free other human resources to be redeployed to more suitable areas of work.