Chairman Statement For Work Completed in FY2010/2011

Overview of e2i

Initiated by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) is an extension of the Labour Movement, to assist workers to acquire better skills, move into better jobs and improve their lives. e2i is constituted as a non-revenue generating, non-profit private limited company under the Singapore Labour Foundation. Our operations are 100% funded by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). 

Achievements in 2010

2010 was a remarkable year for Singapore as the economy rebounded strongly from the financial crisis. The economy grew 14.5%, reversing the decline of 0.8% in 2009. Unemployment was kept low, at 2.2% as at end 2010, a big part of which was attributed to Tripartite collaborations to save jobs during the sharp downturn. Otherwise, the sufferings of workers will be immense. 

In view of the improved economy and tighter labour market in 2010, e2i embarked on a ‘3P’ approach to help Singaporean workers through:

• Placements into better jobs,
• Professional development through skills upgrading, and
• Productivity improvements with gains sharing.

Throughout 2010, e2i assisted close to 40,500 workers. Of which 14,700 were placed into better jobs, 23,100 enhanced their value and capability through professional development, and 2,600 realised the gain sharing arising from productivity initiatives implemented by their employers and supported by e2i.

As at December 2010, e2i has close partnerships with 244 companies and 65 training providers on initiatives to improve employment, job worth and productivity.

Placement into Better Jobs – Helped 14,700 workers find jobs

With a tight labour market and employers chasing after workers, we responded through two key changes to our placement efforts. First, we focused on providing more career options and offering better paying jobs. We call this the “Bigger Better Job Fairs” initiative. Partnering employers from over 20 diverse industry sectors, job seekers had access to new sectors such as integrated resorts, medical technology, and clean technology. For example, in the security sector, we focus our collaboration with agencies paying $1,500 or more.  For cleaning, we work with contractors paying $1,000 or more, and often at $1,100 or $1,200.

Second, we brought jobs to the community. As in the case of recruiting for nex mall, e2i partnered the mall operator to gather more than 2,000 vacancies from tenants, worked with training providers to customise an orientation training programme, organised job fairs, and worked with the grassroots to reach out to job seekers living near the mall. By having flexi and part time options, back-to-work women were encouraged to rejoin the workforce. 

Through our placement efforts in 2010, 60% of the job seekers who sought employment services with us were successfully placed into new or better jobs. Out of these, more than 5,700 (39%) are 50 years old and above. 1,750 or 12% are 60 years old and above. At e2i, we refuse to accept that it is impossible for older workers to find jobs. There are many enlightened employers who welcome older workers. But workers must do their part too.

Professional Development - Upgrading skills of 23,100 workers

As the economy changes and becomes more competitive, workers have to upgrade their skills to stay relevant and employable. e2i helps Singaporean workers to stay competitive by identifying their training needs and working with training providers on courses to fulfill these training needs. We also encourage companies to train their workers and support skills accreditation.

In 2010, we introduced an additional 38 upgrading programmes for workers. We call these “Professional Development Programmes”, because we want to emphasise that the need for training should not be too generic, instead it must be specific and enhance the professional capability of a worker. These programmes either help develop niche expertise in a specific sector, or important skills commonly needed across industries.  Some examples are Certified Orton Gillingham for preschool teachers and Certified Franchise Executive Programme for enterprising entrepreneurs. 

Our professional development efforts helped 23,100 workers improve their skills and enhance their value in 2010, of which 70% are rank-and-file workers and 30% are PMETs.

In addition, at the close of the 2-year Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), e2i helped 70,000 workers from 188 companies upgrade their skills through employability and in-house training programmes.

Under NTUC’s Surrogate Employers' Program (SEP), 2,500 union members who were unable to secure their employer's commitment for training were supported for skills upgrading programmes.

Productivity Improvement – A Growing Movement

Endorsed by the National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC) to drive the $40 million Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP), e2i had made good progress since the launch of IGP in August 2010. With $16.6 million committed as of March 2011, 265 projects had been approved to help companies raise productivity and share gains with more than 20,000 low-wage workers.

Many of these are not fanciful projects. We supported companies to install IT software, upgrade their machines, put in bar code scanners, coin counting machines, etc.  As a result, and because of a rebounding economy with plentiful orders, productivity of workers took a quantum leap. We then commit the companies to share the extra revenues or profits with workers. As a result, 80% of the workers who are employed by these companies will get annual wage increase of 10% or more.

Through working with unions, associations and companies, we have broadened productivity improvements to manufacturing and services sectors such as Hospitality, Food & Beverage, Retail, Logistics, and Aerospace.

For example, we worked with Royal Plaza on Scotts to equip workers with multiple-skills so that they are competent in various front line operations. The hotel is able to better manage their resources by deploying multi-skilled staff who can take on cross-functional roles coupled with adoption of technology.  Another company, Asia Wide Print Holdings which produces marketing collaterals, faced bottle-necks with tight time frame orders and during seasonal peak periods. With the introduction of fully automated machines, pre-press quality and on-press productivity improved largely.

The Best Sourcing Initiatives (BSI) incentivises companies to award tenders based on quality. Through BSI, workers can get better skills and pay because service providers are more willing and able to invest in their workers' training, as well as in proper tools and equipment to enable their workers to work more productively. As at end 2010, BSI has been implemented over 85 contracts worth over $200 million and benefited over 1,800 workers. Our survey shows that workers contracted under BSI typically earn approximately 4 - 15% higher as compared to the average market rate.

Organisation and Financial Resources

In driving these programmes, in Financial Year 2010/2011 ending 31 March 2011, e2i disbursed a total of $19 million in Government grants.  $6.3m (33%) is to support training and skills upgrading of job seekers to secure new jobs; $8.2m (43%) is to support employed workers to upgrade their capability; and $4.5m (24%) is to support companies’ efforts to raise productivity and share gains with workers.

As at end of the FY2010/11, e2i has a staff strength of 101. e2i was awarded the WSQ Distinguished Partner in recognition for our contribution to the development and expansion of the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) system. We also received ISO 9001:2008 certification for proper quality management.

Looking ahead 

In 2011, e2i aims to help 50,000 workers through providing employability and vocational skills for:

• all collars,
• all ages,
• employed and unemployed, and
• rank-and-file workers and PMETs.

We will work with training providers to establish rigorous and professional training programmes and pathways; and with employers (big and small companies, existing, new and emerging industries) to source for more and better-paying vacancies, upgrade their workers’ capabilities and boost productivity. We will also ramp up efforts to develop the new ‘Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability’ CET campus by end 2013 to better serve workers.