Chairman Statement 2010

Chairman Statement 2010

e2i is a fairly new organisation – only two years old. It was incorporated as a private limited company under the Singapore Labour Foundation. There is a Chairman and Board of Directors, and proper auditing and reporting processes to ensure good corporate governance. These enables e2i to serve as an administrator of public funds for Government agencies such as the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). In this regard, e2i is a non-revenue generating and non-profit company, as its expenses incurred in driving job placements, serving the unemployed, and outreach to workers, are fully reimbursed through Government funds.

Overview of 2009 Achievement

2009 has been an exceptional year for e2i as it was plunged in the thick of a deep global recession. This affected the Singapore economy and labour market very adversely.

Throughout 2009, e2i assisted 64,500 workers. Amongst them, 29,400 found better jobs. Another 35,100 were employed workers who upgraded their skills and enhanced their value. In addition, we rendered services to over 460 companies and employers to meet their manpower needs, as well as to boost their job worth and productivity.

In carrying out its work, in Financial Year 2009/2010 ending 31 March 2010, e2i disbursed a total of $8.55 million in Government grants for course fees, absentee payroll, and training allowances to companies and trainees to support upgrading of skills.

Helping 29,400 workers find jobs

e2i plays a critical role in the national Continuing Education and Training (CET) system. While WDA strengthens the supply side of CET, i.e. provides the funding and the certified skills training, e2i works on the demand side of the CET, by reaching out to workers and mobilising the ground to tap on the training programmes to upgrade skills and raise capabilities. The key programmes promoted by e2i include Workplace Literacy and Numeracy, Certified Service Professional, and various vocational training.

Our belief is that by putting job seekers through relevant training prescribed by our Employability Coaches, the job seekers stand a better chance of securing proper jobs with good career prospects. Hence, after training, the Employability Coaches of e2i will follow up to introduce them to learn more about occupations and industries, and introduce them to employers through job fairs.

To implement our operating model vigorously, e2i sets itself a target of holding One Job Fair a Day. This will also provide job seekers with a range of options to find a career that is most suited to them. By end of 2009, e2i had managed to hold a job fair on over 80% of its working days.

Todate, 62% of the job seekers who sought employment services with us were successfully placed into new or better jobs across 24 diverse industry sectors.

Upgrading skills and competencies of 35,100 workers

Through the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR@e2i), 29,400 workers were trained in employability programmes and in-house training programmes. This is a core programme implemented by the Government in 2009 to help companies cut cost and save jobs.

Separately, the NTUC has also established an NTUC Education & Training Fund (NETF), which was used to fund the Surrogate Employers' Program (SEP), administered by e2i. Under SEP, e2i assisted 5,700 union members, who were unable to secure their employer's commitment, to support them for training and to attend subsidised skills upgrading programmes.

Partnerships with 460 companies

Helping workers and helping companies are two sides of the same coin. By upgrading the skills of workers and placing them into jobs, e2i also helps companies meet their manpower needs.

e2i also partners with companies to raise job worth through the Job Re-creation Programmes (JRP). To this end, we supported $5.97 million to fund JRP initiatives such as facilitating Back-to-Work Women, Re-employment of Matured Workers etc. One of our key initiatives is to promote the concept of best sourcing through the Best Sourcing Initiative Early Adopters Scheme (BEAS). The scheme incentivises companies to award tenders based on quality over pricing. As a result, vendors are more prepared to invest in workers' training, as well as proper tools and equipment to achieve higher productivity.

Looking ahead

Over a period of two years, e2i has expanded its service offerings to a broader segment of the workforce, covering the employed and the unemployed, rank-and-file workers and professional, managers and executives. We also service big and small employers in existing, new and emerging industries.

In the coming year, we will see the organisation continuing to broaden our outreach to workers of all collars and ages, enhancing their employability and skills. We will also continue to partner companies to source for more and better vacancies.

In line with the key recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee, we will establish rigorous and professional training programmes and pathways to help workers achieve mastery of skills and deepen their expertise in their existing jobs. To help companies break productivity bottlenecks by becoming 'cheaper, better and faster', much emphasis will be placed on developing and implementing initiatives and incentives to boost productivity and capabilities for employees and businesses.

e2i will support the national CET system by continuing its efforts to serve our Singapore workforce to remain competitive and sustain long-term growth in the current economy.