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Majority of Singaporeans want employers to provide upskilling opportunities: Survey
SINGAPORE — About 91 per cent of respondents in Singapore hope to enrich their careers through learning and development, but only 22 per cent said that they had such opportunities from their employers in the past 12 months.
These are some of the findings of the bi-annual 2022 Randstad Workmonitor survey in Singapore which highlights the workforce's latest sentiments and perceptions of the local job market. The study was conducted between 21 February and 13 March 2022 with 1,000 locally-based respondents who are employed and aged between 18 and 67 years old.
Almost three in four respondents agreed that training and development is important, with 56 per cent citing soft skills such as communication and leadership as the top priority, followed by career development (49 per cent) and technical skills (47 per cent) as the areas they wished to receive training for.
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Singaporeans are keen to develop their soft and technical skills to be more productive at work and have more employment options to choose from, especially in growth sectors like technology, e-commerce and digital banking, according to Jaya Dass, Managing Director of Permanent Recruitment, Asia Pacific at Randstad.
"Companies that invest in upskilling their workforce will have a more productive and skilled workforce. Organisations will also be more capable of attracting and retaining talent who seek development opportunities to grow into value-add and meaningful jobs," Dass noted.
Career coaching
The pandemic has spotlighted Singaporeans' priorities such as having more clarity on their contributions at work, as well as career purpose, especially since they are motivated to take advantage of the new job opportunities in the market, the survey said.
About 87 per cent of Singaporeans want to speak to a career coach and understand their future job prospects, the study showed. Three in five of respondents expressed wanting to speak to a career coach about earning a higher income, followed by better work-life balance (49 per cent) and career advancement (40 per cent).
When asked how likely they are to stay with their current employer, only 43 per cent of respondents said that they are committed to do so. This is 17 per cent lower than the global average.
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