New alliance to help expand talent reach also launched
Employers seeking to redesign jobs within their organisations can now utilise a new one-stop centre that will help them carry out their plans for business and workforce transformation.
The centre, called the Job Redesign Centre of Excellence (JRCoE), was launched by Workforce Singapore and the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) during the People Behind People (PBP) Forum held this week.
"The JRCoE will develop industry-relevant JR expertise and resources such as step-by-step sectoral playbooks, capability development workshops, and promulgate HR and job redesign best practices across its network of HR Professionals to accelerate enterprise transformation," the IHRP said on its website.
An expert panel comprised of tripartite partners, academics, and industry-recognised professionals from the HR, legal, and business community will guide the JRCoE.
It has so far saw the pledge of support of 21 trade associations and chambers representing 14 industry sectors.
"We are pleased to receive the strong support and vote of confidence from our tripartite partners, more than 20 trade association chambers, industry experts and knowledge partners to develop new insights and capabilities for job redesign," said Aslam Sardar, chief executive officer of IHRP and co-chair of the JRCoE Expert Panel, in a statement.
According to Sardar, they plan to progressively roll out targeted initiatives to further encourage the adoption and implementation of the JRCoE.
"Through these concerted efforts, we seek to further empower HR professionals to become change agents within their organisations, with the goals of driving sustainable growth, enhancing workforce agility, and boosting organisational performance through job redesign," Sardar said.
Job redesign refers to the restructuring of work tasks and responsibilities to optimise processes and workforce allocation to boost productivity.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said job redesign will be needed amid a "hypercompetitive environment," where employers have to quickly adopt and leverage technology to improve their workforce.
"Job redesign will be needed to make sure that technology is used effectively, with tasks and roles adjusted to fit the changing work environment in a precise manner," Tan said during the PBP forum.
"It will be critical to optimising any organisation's human potential, to meet ever increasing employees' aspirational needs, improve overall employee talent retention, and continue positive encouragement and engagement."
Telecommunications firm Singtel is among the organisations that benefitted from job redesign after it successfully upskilled 2,500 employees, where 50% or more changed their roles.
Aileen Tan, Singtel's group chief people and sustainability officer, said they proactively embraced job redesign and upskilling amid a global tech skills shortage.
"The new knowledge and skillsets they gain will ensure they stay relevant and competitive in a fast-changing digital landscape," she said in a statement.
"The job redesign and upskilling experience has also helped energise and strengthen our teams around our purpose of empowering people and businesses through technology – it is a win-win for everyone."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also initiated an Alliance for Action (AfA) on Widening Access to Talent that will help empower employers to expand their reach of talent.
"Combining expertise and buy-in from both the business and the HR community, the AfA will identify common talent attraction and retention challenges and work together to co-create solutions to help employers hire talent with transferable skillsets and develop their own internal talent pool," Manpower Minister Tan said.
It will be led by industry leaders, including Singtel's Tan, who is also an IHRP master professional, as well as Bicky Bhangu, president of Rolls Royce SEA, Pacific and South Korea, and council member for SNEF.
"The AfA will explore solutions to enhance talent retention and career mobility within the company through skills-based workforce development practices," Tan said.
According to MOM, expanding access to talent is critical as Singapore's workforce grows older.
As the workforce changes, Bhangu underscored that it will be important for employers to go beyond relying on qualifications or past work experiences when hiring employees.
"This will enable employers to access a larger talent pool, including individuals from adjacent job roles and sectors, and reap the benefits of a highly-skilled and agile workforce to meet their manpower demand," Bhangu said in a statement.
The alliance will run for six months starting January 2024, and will be focused on the Manufacturing, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and Retail sectors.
