Speech by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment at the SkillsFuture Human Capital Conference 2025

1. Good afternoon everybody. I am very pleased to join you here at the SkillsFuture Human Capital Conference. It is heartening to see so many of you, so many companies, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Human Resource professionals and training providers all represented here.

2. This Conference recognises the key role that employers play in workforce development.

1. Individually, you support upward progression by investing in the upskilling of your employees, through on-the-job training, in-house development programmes, or sponsoring them for external courses.
2. Collectively, by recognising and rewarding skills well through progressive hiring and HR practices, you create a stronger impetus for individuals to upskill and reskill.

3. Close to 90% of businesses in Singapore regard skills development as paramount to achieving higher productivity and innovation, as shown in the 2024 National Business Survey, conducted by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).

1. And we are seeing more employers engaged in the SkillsFuture movement.
2. Last year, over 24,000 companies participated in training supported by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG). This is twice the number compared to the 12,000 companies in 2018.

4. These employers have made good use of the enhanced training support provided by Government.

1. In 2020, we introduced the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit, a one-time credit of $10,000, which companies could use to invest in enterprise and workforce transformation.
2. Earlier this year, we announced the Enterprise Workforce Transformation Package, with three components:
   1. From the second half of 2026, we will provide a fresh SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit of $10,000 in an online wallet. Companies can use this to offset their out-of-pocket costs upfront.
   2. We will also simplify the grants application process for companies to pursue workforce development, and
   3. We will enhance support for job redesign.

5. Beyond financial support, the Government has invested in employers' capability development and provided companies with the means to become learning workplaces.

1. The National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning (NACE) was set up in 2018 to help employers develop and implement a strong workplace learning system and culture.
   1. To date, over 3,400 enterprises, mostly SMEs, have benefitted from NACE programmes.
   2. With NACE's support, companies can better provide on-the-job training in specific job roles and reduce the time taken away from work for external training.
   3. Later, we will present the National Workplace Learning Certification Award to nine exemplary employers, who have been demonstrating excellence in these efforts.

6. We must continue to strengthen the SkillsFuture partnership with employers. I hope that by now, I have made the case on how employers are a vital part of SkillsFuture, and how we have to continue to do SkillsFuture. In order for this to happen, we have to strengthen our partnership with employers, and I suggest we can do so in two ways:

1. Strengthening our network of leading companies and organisations, so that companies can contextualise training needs for specific sectors and specific professions; and secondly,
2. Providing greater support to guide informed training decisions through digital tools and data.

7. Companies and organisations have come forth as SkillsFuture Queen Bees and Skills Development Partners to form a network of support for employers looking to upskill their workers.

8. The SkillsFuture Queen Bees are leading companies in their sectors. They can support smaller companies, and do so by identifying skills gaps and developing industry-relevant training.

1. To date, more than 5,700 companies, of which 80% are SMEs, have benefited from over 30 Queen Bee companies.
2. By joining the Queen Bee network in your sector, you can find out more about the common skills needs and challenges and receive suggestions on how to overcome these challenges.
3. We recently appointed YCH Group, Singapore's largest home-grown logistics and supply chain company, as a Queen Bee company.
   1. Together with SSG and NTUC Company Training Committee, YCH Group seeks to uplift the skills development of the supply chain and logistics sector.
   2. In doing so, this will benefit about 110 SMEs and over 7,500 workers in their networks.

9. Some companies might need help to identify and articulate their skills needs, especially in fast-evolving, priority skills areas such as digital and green skills, and recognising such new skills.

10. To journey with such companies, SSG appointed a few Trade Associations and Business Chambers and Professional Bodies as Skills Development Partners (SDPs).

1. Four SDPs have been appointed thus far. The Institution of Engineers, Singapore, Institute for Human Resource Professionals, Singapore Computer Society and SGTech.
2. Their efforts include helping employers understand and identify in-demand skills and developing skills credentialling pathways to catalyse the industry recognition of new skills.
3. This is the creation of an ecosystem, and giving people a sense of the future direction, bringing together companies working within a certain industry sector to identify the common in-demand skills, developing the skills credentialling pathways and then capitalising further recognition of the development of new and relevant skills.
4. Today, I am proud to announce that SSG will be appointing another SDP. We welcome the Singapore Business Federation as our latest SDP. Thank you SBF for joining us!
5. SBF will focus on the development of cross-cutting skills in two strategic domains – Green Economy and Trade, Investment and Internationalisation.
6. These two strategic domains cut across a wide variety of use cases, and can potentially benefit a wide variety of employers. These are not exactly the same type of industry categorisation compared to what we have had in the past, and present a slightly new approach in how we are thinking about cross cutting skills.
7. These efforts will enable companies to better transition towards a low-carbon economy and expand into regional and international markets, which are key imperatives in today's economic climate.

11. Even as we grow this network of Queen Bees and SDPs, we are also providing more tools to employers, to enable them to be deliberate in upskilling their workforce and raising the career health of their workers.

12. Many of you are interested in upskilling your workers but potentially unsure of how best to optimise your training resources for your business needs. In particular, you want to be able to optimise your training resources to how you are running your business.

13. To kickstart this process, SSG is rolling out two new digital tools: TalentTrack and TalentTrack+.

1. TalentTrack is free-to-use. It is a tool that offers employers curated insights into in-demand skills and training recommendations in your business area for your workforce.
   1. Using this tool as an employer, you can track your SSG training grants consumption and compare what you are doing with other companies, to see if you are keeping pace with the sector.
   2. More than 7,500 employers have already accessed this tool in May and June 2025 as part of its beta launch.
2. TalentTrack+ offers more advanced skills profiling down to the individual employee level. TalentTrack is telling you what you are doing as a business, and comparing you to your competitors, collaborators and the rest of the sector. TalentTrack+ is a paid subscription service, which allows you to have those insights down to the individual employee.
   1. Employers and employees will be able to identify skills gaps of the individual employees, and have them receive personalised training recommendations.

14. Both tools are key in encouraging employers to take the first step in supporting the nationwide Career Health SG initiative.

1. You can take the lead to assess your firm's skills needs, chart a plan to raise your human capital through the development of your employees' skills and then follow through and execute those plans.
2. In return, you are creating the conditions and role-modelling for your employees to take charge of their Career Health, considering their progression pathways and thinking about their training needs.

15. How will we know when we have succeeded in helping employers progress in their workforce transformation journey?

16. Earlier this year, MOM formed a Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capability Development together with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

1. Among other plans to strengthen foundational and strategic HR practices with the support of AI, the Workgroup is exploring the development of a national human capital index.
   1. This draws inspiration from indicators like the American and British Opportunity Indices.
   2. Through such an index, we could help local businesses better measure their workforce's career health and economic mobility.
   3. More details will be released later in the year.

17. Success can also be seen from the tangible benefits that companies gain from workforce development.

18. ONE°15 Marina Club – one of the National Workplace Learning Certification recipients – offers us an instructive example.

1. As a SME offering services in hotel accommodation, dining and event hosting, ONE°15 Marina Club struggles with maintaining consistent service standards and operational excellence through its workforce that comprises full-time and part-time staff. This is something many businesses that have a mixture of full-time and part-time staff may understand and will appreciate.
2. With the support of NACE, it created customised on-the-job training blueprints for different divisions. This fostered a structured training environment, which resulted in improved and more consistent service standards.
3. Going further, its HR team developed an in-house learning and development portal for staff to learn flexibly at their own pace and convenience. This led to a higher level of training participation and further improved workplace capabilities.

19. Equally important as a measure of success is when workers are able to find new meaning and satisfaction from their work through job redesign and training. We must define success not just from employers putting in place the programmes and from business outcomes, but from the perspective of an employee.

1. Take for example, Ms Sharon Ho, a Senior Warehouse Executive from MES Logistics. She shared in an interview recently that the job redesign and training process that MES Logistics undertook had enabled her to regain her confidence and find new purpose in mentoring younger colleagues at work.

20. We are only able to do what we do because we have strong partnerships, a consistent network of employers, SMEs, Queen Bees and SDPs, and a view that success must be measured on a systems level. We must also pay close attention to success as defined by the employees and workers. We must do all of these and more, and I encourage more employers to step forward and partner us in the SkillsFuture movement so that we can achieve these outcomes.

1. Step forward and take advantage of the training tools and enhanced support from the Government. Get involved in the benefits that being part of our tripartite arrangements and partnerships will bring to you and your businesses. Get engaged with the industry intermediaries that are participating in this process, in terms of how we think about, implement and execute training.
2. Take action today to preserve your human capital strengths and ultimately your business competitiveness.
3. Take charge of the skills development of our people. They can propel your company to greater heights, and the way in which you do so can then inspire them and lead them to take ownership of their own skills development and career health.

21. I would like to thank SBF and NACE for organising today's conference. I wish everyone a fruitful session, and urge as many as you as possible to please step forward and continue, renew or start anew your partnership with SSG and our SkillsFuture movement.

22. Thank you.