Adapting to Change: the Future of Work in Singapore with Brian Tan

What does the future of work look like in Singapore? 

Join us as we talk with Brian Tan, Deputy CEO of e2i, to uncover the key trends shaping the future of employment. 

From the rise of AI to the importance of soft skills and lifelong learning, Brian offers invaluable insights for both job seekers and employers. 

Discover how e2i is empowering Singapore's workforce to adapt and thrive in the face of change, with resources and initiatives designed to bridge skill gaps and promote career resilience. 

Tune in to learn how you can stay ahead of the curve and navigate the evolving world of work.

Connect with us on LinkedIn:

· Vanessa Iloste (Host)

· Vanessa Teo (Host)

· Aaron Wu (Producer)

Transcript

[00:00:00] Vanessa I: Welcome to the new episode of the Career Transition Podcast. This week we welcome Brian Tan, deputy CEO of e2i, Employment and Employability Institute in Singapore. e2i is a tripartite initiative of the National Trade Union Congress set up to support nationwide manpower and skills upgrading initiative.

[00:00:26] On this episode, Brian shares with us what the future of work looks like in the Singapore context. He focuses on the importance of continuous learning and adapting to change for the employees and for the employers. He encourages them to support the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce. We hope you will enjoy this episode.

[00:00:56] Vanessa T: Welcome everyone to the next episode of the Career Transitions Podcast. The podcast where we explore what it takes to successfully navigate through career transitions, no matter which stage of life or career you're at. 

[00:01:10] Vanessa I: Today, we are thrilled to have Brian Tan, Deputy CEO of e2i with us to discuss the future of work.

[00:01:16] Welcome Brian. 

[00:01:17] Brian T: Hi, nice to be on the show. Thank you for inviting me. 

[00:01:21] Vanessa T: It's great to have you on our show, Brian. Your organization, e2i, does such important work here in Singapore to connect employers and workers. Can you share a bit more with us about what e2i does? 

[00:01:34] Brian T: e2i stands for the Employment and Employability Institute.

[00:01:37] We are actually part of the NTUC or National Trades Union Congress to support nationwide manpower and skills upgrading initiatives. So what this actually means is that we help job seekers as well as employers through various means. For example, we aim to make every job a better job by partnering with employers to address their manpower needs through recruitment, provision of training, job redesign, and of course to partner them to improve the well being as well as the wages of workers.

[00:02:09] For the workers, we aim to help every worker to be a better worker by connecting them to job opportunities, offer services such as career guidance, job matching, and provide advice on areas where they can upgrade their skills and where they can look for opportunities to network with employers as well as the hiring managers.

[00:02:28] Vanessa I: It's incredible what your organization does to support the future of work here in Singapore. We're very curious to know your thoughts on the future of work, especially considering the rapid technological advancement and changing global economic landscapes. 

[00:02:42] Brian T: That's definitely something that has been impacting work today.

[00:02:46] So, in terms of the future of work, we see a few key trends that are happening. For example, in the space of technology, we have seen a lot of articles and a lot of companies talking about artificial intelligence or AI. I'd like to use an example in Singapore. For instance, Ng Teng Fong Hospital partnered NTUC and the union's through NTUC's company training committee to develop their inventory management system, which will eliminate the need for nurses, for example, to manually monitor inventory and free up their time to focus more on clinical work.

[00:03:16] It not only reduces time spent on non clinical tasks, but also allow them to upskill and focus on higher value tasks by using the new system. This is one example where, in terms of the future of work, technology has seeped in and has changed the nature of work. 

[00:03:30] The other issue is global changes and global influence has impacted Singapore's job landscape. Singapore being a very open society on an open economy, we see that there's a lot of shifts globally towards more sustainable and inclusive business practices. So now we have seen increasingly more companies and more workers asking for flexible work arrangements at their workplaces. 

[00:03:55] Thirdly, I think the time between skills relevance and skills obsolescence is becoming shorter. So again, this is partially influenced by the onset of technology and how the world is changing so rapidly. What will happen is that there will be a constant need to evolve, constant need to upgrade skills and constant need to continue learning because things that you learn today, perhaps in a university, in a polytechnic or wherever, may be relevant for the next one or two years.

[00:04:24] In the past, we've never heard of jobs like prompt engineers, but now today this job seems to be a job of demand. And this introduction of the Gen AI and AI has only been about four to five years. So I think it's important here that as part of e2i, we are also constantly partnering educational institutions and training providers to offer programs in such emerging fields so that workers can be ready for such technologies and the need to upgrade their skills.

[00:04:50] Vanessa T: It's really interesting. I think you touched on several aspects of the future of work, which we think is really important. You talked about some of the changes with technology, the evolution of the global marketplace. We're very curious to know what you see as some of the emerging or focus economies here for Singapore.

[00:05:09] Brian T: There are three emerging economies and these are not new in a sense, but they are key industries that will continue to be relevant and important to Singapore in the years ahead. The first one is the green economy. There are a few policies and plans that have been released. For example, the Singapore Green Plan 2030, there are ongoing efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This involves promoting low carbon technologies, resource efficiency, and sustainable business practices. 

[00:05:37] We have an aging population and the care economy is becoming increasingly important as well. Sectors such as health care, elder care, and the social services fall under this care economy. And in process of ensuring that the needs of all citizens are met, numerous job opportunities in these areas continue to grow.

[00:05:55] Thirdly, is the digital economy. This encompasses a wide range of activities driven by technologies such as the onset of AI and IOT. For example, local banks have seen significant growth in transaction volumes due to enhanced digital services. 

[00:06:10] Vanessa T: Globally, the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge.

[00:06:24] So given these trends and the kind of the things that you've talked about, about the emerging economies here in Singapore, what skills do you believe individuals should invest in in order to stay relevant and to thrive in the evolving job market? 

[00:06:37] Brian T: Soft skills are very important skills that I would say cannot be replaced by machines.

[00:06:42] So skills such as creativity, having EQ or emotional intelligence, and problem solving skills are becoming increasingly important. So one example specific in this area is project management skills. So project management skills require an individual to be adaptable, be able to problem solve, as well as foresee potential gaps that needs to be filled.

[00:07:06] Because sometimes the project may have complex problems, and such problems needs to be solved perhaps in a very innovative way. So these competencies are essential for adapting to the fast paced, ever changing work environment. The second thing that perhaps is important to stay relevant and for workers or individuals to thrive, is the ability to continue learning and the ability to adapt quickly to new information and technologies.

[00:07:32] So this is really something about how quickly technology comes in and how the nature of work and the job may change, but what can the individual actually do to circumvent or perhaps navigate through all these challenges would mean being open to upskilling and reskilling to meet the demands of the new roles.

[00:07:51] Vanessa I: We were curious with Vanessa to hear from you how we could use e2i in a better way. So if I'm looking for a new job, how should I best utilize the key services that you provide to prepare me for the future? 

[00:08:04] Brian T: That's a wonderful question. I say, it gives me a chance to share a little bit more about what I do.

[00:08:08] As, uh, part of e2i, our focus is really about helping workers. So workers are the center of what we do and helping them to get a job is really quite important to us. The thinking behind this is that if a worker who is currently unemployed, there may be difficulties for this worker naturally. When this worker actually finds a job, What this person or what this worker actually achieves is then he gains his dignity to be able to contribute to society.

[00:08:38] And then with this work, he's able to earn wages. And then with this wages, he can then pay for whatever he needs to pay for like his responsibility and his obligations and also contribute to the family as well as to society subsequently. So here at e2i, we feel very passionately about wanting to ensure and preferably to help workers find jobs.

[00:08:58] We have a toolbox of resources where our workers can use like our career assessment tool, a career resource kit. We have online tools such as our resume builder and mock up interviewer. All these are there to perhaps give a little assistance to help workers to be able to improve their resume to get through the door of the potential employer.

[00:09:20] We do have events that we organize from time to time. So one of it is our job fairs, where we invite employers from different industries, as well as training providers too to gather at a location where workers can come and meet with them, go for the interviews and hopefully get a job. We also hold networking and skills, upgrading types of seminars.

[00:09:42] Working with our training providers, they conduct seminars and workshops on how to improve their employability. 

[00:09:48] Thirdly, we have our career centers and job centers that are all around Singapore. So currently we have 27 touch points around Singapore where any worker, you know, if they are looking to seek help and career guidance and skills advisory on what to do and how to be job ready, they can make an appointment online and drop by any of our 27 touch points around Singapore.

[00:10:11] Vanessa T: Brian, this is really great and Vanessa and I both lead international HR teams. And to hear that Singapore invests so much into upgrading the skills of our workers and helping employees across Singapore to be better suited for the future of work. It's really great. We're curious, with all of these changes that are happening, how does e2i collaborate with industries, with organizations, and other stakeholders to address the skill gaps and to support the workforce to adapt to new demands?

[00:10:43] Brian T: Being part of the NTUC and part of the labor movement, we are able to then tap on the resources of our sister organizations. We work very closely with our Tripartite partners such as the Ministry of Manpower as well as the Singapore National Employers Federation to address the skills gap and support the workforce to meeting new demands.

[00:11:03] On top of that, if you are a member of NTUC, there are funds also that provide assistance such as our Union Training Assistance Program or UTAP which is aimed at differing the cost of training for NTUC members and being a member, if they need to address this skills gap, they can tap on this fund to help offset some of the costs for their training courses.

[00:11:24] In terms of partnership employers, we want employers to help them transform their companies. And one of the initiatives that we do is called the company training committee program, which brings together both unions and employers to develop concrete firm level transformation plans, including identifying relevant workers training needs.

[00:11:42] So the intent here is that we help companies, we also help the workers achieve better wages, welfare and work prospects. 

[00:11:49] Vanessa I: That's really good for us to know that you're preparing us in Singapore for the future and we are grateful for all the work you are doing. Building career resilience often involves learning from setback and failures.

[00:12:00] Can you share some insight or examples, Brian, of how professionals can turn challenges into opportunities for growth and development? 

[00:12:08] Brian T: First of all, I think individuals should consider embracing lifelong learning. So they should seek opportunities to acquire new skills, knowledge, whether through formal education, long form courses, online courses, or even on the job training.

[00:12:23] So organizations can further support this by offering training programs, having a training framework to guide and to give staff an idea of what areas they can upgrade their skills in, and also encourage a culture of learning. 

[00:12:36] Two, perhaps develop adaptability. You have to be open to change, be willing to adjust to the new circumstances and what it presents and what it brings along with it.

[00:12:48] This includes developing cognitive adaptability, which involves critical thinking, problem solving and the ability to learn and apply new information quickly. 

[00:12:57] Third is to think about how to be open and to use technology to enhance our productivity and efficiency. Many Singaporean companies including e2i, we are adopting AI driven solutions to streamline operations and improve customer service and service standards.

[00:13:17] For example, the use of smarter chatbots on some of our company's websites like banking and other service websites to assist individuals. 

[00:13:25] Fourth, we can look at focusing on soft skills. We can talk about soft skills as emotional intelligence, communication, and being able to work together as a team, becoming increasingly important.

[00:13:38] These skills help individuals navigate all these complex work environments. The work environment has become a lot more complex today as compared in the past. And also, you know, to be able to collaborate effectively with others. We have seen that employers value such competencies as they contribute not just to a productive workplace, but perhaps also to a harmonious one.

[00:13:59] Fifth, we cannot forget about this very important area about well being. So well being talks about broadly what can we do in terms of mental well being as well as physical well being. Some of these brand companies, such as Google, offering the pantries, spaces to relax in the office area. The idea is how can we create a supportive work environment, encouraging work life balance, and also providing resources for individuals and their workers to deal with mental well being.

[00:14:28] Vanessa T: Thank you, Brian. I think those are really great points about how individuals can build career resilience. Now, we're very curious also what organizations can do better. So can you just share some of your thoughts about how organizations can support their employees in developing career resilience and ensuring that employees are equipped to handle transitions and disruptions in career paths?

[00:14:50] Brian T: Organizations play a vital role in helping employees develop resilience and adapt to transitions and disruptions. Here are some effective strategies that perhaps organizations can think about. 

[00:15:02] One is provide training and development opportunities. So again, the importance of continuous learning and development should continue to be a focus area for organizations to encourage their employees to acquire new skills and stay relevant.

[00:15:17] Second, foster a supportive work environment. So creating a culture of support and open communication is essential. I mean, encouraging employees to share their challenges and successes and provide platforms for peer support and collaboration are very important to help organizations transit. 

[00:15:33] Promote work life balance, perhaps implementing flexible work arrangements and talking more about work life balance can help employees manage stress, maintain their well being.

[00:15:43] This also includes options for remote work, flexible hours, and just allowing employees to have a better balance in terms of their work life harmony. 

[00:15:53] Third, perhaps encourage a growth mindset, cultivate a culture that values learning from setbacks and viewing challenges as opportunities for growth.

[00:16:02] Encourage employees to take risks, learn from failures and continuously improve. Oftentimes, you know, when you have a growth mindset, we should also complement it by recognizing and rewarding efforts. So recognition can boost morale, motivate employees to persevere through these challenges. 

[00:16:20] And lastly, I would say build strong leadership.

[00:16:23] So leaders play a crucial role in modeling resilience, providing leadership training that focuses on empathy, adaptability, and effective communication. So whether you are an individual or company, e2i is here to partner with you in employment and employability. So for Singaporeans, if you need assistance with career prospecting, planning or progression, e2i has a range of resources and tools, and our services are available to you.

[00:16:51] For those who are NTUC members, if you decide to enroll in any course, courses for skills upgrading or reskilling, you can take advantage of UTAP, which I mentioned earlier. UTAP complements government support and helps to defray the cost of training. And for local companies, lastly, let e2i be your go to partner for hiring and training needs.

[00:17:11] Vanessa I: Thank you, Brian, for sharing your insight on the future of work and the critical role that e2i and your team plays in preparing our workforce. 

[00:17:18] Vanessa T: Yeah. Thank you so much, Brian. It has been such a pleasure having you on the show. And with that, we wrap up another episode of the Career Transitions Podcast.

[00:17:28] Stay tuned for more conversations on navigating your career transitions. And until next time, keep evolving and stay future ready. Thank you so much, Brian. 

[00:17:37] Brian T: Thank you so much.