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Alliance for Action (AfA) on Widening Access to Talent to Help Employers Broaden their Talent Reach

Skills, training and development

1. The Alliance for Action (AfA)1 on Widening Access to Talent brings businesses and HR leaders together to develop strategies that enable employers to attract and retain a wider talent pool. Widening access to talent is critical to honing our businesses and economy’s competitive edge, as Singapore’s resident workforce gets older yet more educated, and as competition in the labour market intensifies.

2.       The AfA on Widening Access to Talent seeks to co-create industry-led, scalable initiatives in two areas:

  1. Leverage valuable, transferrable skills and experience by hiring from adjacent talent pools through skills-based hiring practices.
  2. Improve workforce agility and retention through skills-based workforce development practices to promote career mobility within firms.

3.       The AfA will focus on three specific sectors to ideate and test these initiatives -- Manufacturing, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Retail – and will work with key stakeholders in these sectors such as the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), SGTech and Singapore Retailers Association (SRA). The AfA will run for six months from January 2024, and will be supported by the Tripartite partners namely the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

4.       The AfA will be co-led by eminent industry leaders – Dr Bicky Bhangu, President of Rolls Royce SEA, Pacific and South Korea, and Council Member for SNEF, and Ms Aileen Tan, Group Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Singtel and IHRP Master Professional. The AfA members will comprise other leaders from businesses and Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs).

5.       Dr Bicky, co-lead of the AfA on Widening Access to Talent said: “To meet the fast evolving needs of the economy and workplace, there has to be a shift towards assessment and hiring of workers beyond relying solely on qualifications or past work experiences. 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.”

6.       Ms Aileen, co-lead of the AfA on Widening Access to Talent said: “The AfA will explore solutions to enhance talent retention and career mobility within the company through skills-based workforce development practices. Recognising the pivotal role of HR in adapting and creating innovative talent management strategies to keep businesses competitive, HR practitioners engaged in the AfA will explore the use of job-skills data. This data will enable a better assessment of an organisation’s skills inventory and help organisations make data-driven decisions on reskilling, training, and career development for employees.”

FOOTNOTE

  1. The Emerging Stronger Taskforce (EST) convened the Singapore Together Alliances for Action (AfA) in June 2020. The AfAs are industry-led coalitions, working in partnership with the government, to prototype ideas in areas of opportunity for Singapore or address a common challenge.