SkillsFuture has helped workers upskill: Firms
Six in 10 Singapore companies have said the SkillsFuture initiative has helped their information technology (IT) staff upgrade their skills.
But they feel more external training is needed to close the skills gap in the industry, according to a survey commissioned by recruitment agency Robert Half.
Forty-three per cent of the 75 chief information officers surveyed believe SkillsFuture has eased the shortage in qualified IT professionals.
Under SkillsFuture, citizens aged 25 and above get $500 in credit, with periodic top-ups, to take up courses on work skills.
"Encouraging IT staff to take advantage of SkillsFuture is a great way for companies to maintain operations without increasing costs," Robert Half Singapore managing director Matthieu Imbert-Bouchardtold The New Paper.
Nine in 10 respondents are finding it harder to find qualified IT professionals, compared with five years ago.
Areport last year by Singapore Management University and JP Morgan found Singapore could be short by up to 30,000 IT professionals by 2020. This is exacerbated by the industry changing constantly.
Training centre Tertiary Courses introducesthree to five new courses every month, and about 60 per cent of its customers are from the corporate sector.
Training officer Alfred Ang said: "Technology is moving so fast that what you learnt three to five years ago is probably obsolete now."
Mr Imbert-Bouchard said companies have to proactively upskill their workers.
DBS Bankhas offered an annual $500 credit for some employees to attend classes either in the SkillsFuture database or its own internal courses since 2016.
The bank conducts 15,000 training sessions each year through a learning centre.
Mr Khoo Teng Cheong, its head of learning and talent development, said this was "in support of life-long learning and transforming our employees into a digital workforce".
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