MIT TENANTS SHARE THEIR VIEWS AND SOLUTIONS ON HR CHALLENGES
On 14th October 2014, MIT and SME Centre@SMF came together for the third time to organise a forum exclusively for MIT Tenants. The forum focused on possible solutions for labour issues that SMEs are currently facing when hiring or retaining employees.
Some of the main labour issues highlighted were:
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Problem: Attracting and retaining local employees and young talents
Solution: SME Talent Programme (STP)
STP helps SMEs attract talent from ITEs, Polytechnics and Universities through supporting student internships, study sponsorships and fresh hire training.
Solution: JobsBank
WDA’s new job portal to facilitate online job matching between employers and local job seekers.
Solution: Traineeship Programme
Traineeships are short-term on-the-job training programmes conducted in collaboration with hiring companies. Such programmes allow participants to mutually assess each other for suitable job fits.
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Problem: Raising employees’ capability and skill level
Solution: Enhanced Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV)
SMEs can tap on up to two out of eight vouchers, each worth $5,000, for human capital development purposes.
Read our past article for more details on ICV.
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Problem: Developing and strengthening HR capabilities
Solution: Enterprise Training Support (ETS)
Companies can apply for a fund to assist in building their talent training programmes. These can include development of training capabilities, training materials, HR systems and review of salary and benefit policies.
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Problem: Measuring labour productivity
Solution: Productivity Toolkits
There are various toolkits for tackling different issues. For example, the ‘IMPACT Primer’ toolkit is best used for assessing performance. There are also the ‘Process Redesign’, ‘5S’ and ‘Manpower Scheduling’ toolkits to help companies simplify workflow, improve housekeeping and design more efficient work schedules.
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We invited Mr. Kwan Lifeng, Enterprise Development Manager of CKE Manufacturing to share his experience as an SME on handling some of the labour issues and on dealing with young employees.
Here are some of his interesting insights:
Even the smallest of roles need affirmation of how their contributions can help in the growth of the company. It is important to communicate and align the interest of every employee to the company goals.
Understand the needs and capabilities of your employees. Do not be quick to judge on failures. Ask questions to understand why the problem occurred.
Bench-marking limits the capability of young employees. Give your employees the chance to perform on their own and allow room for failure.
- Choose the Best Person for the Task
Mr Kwan assigned the creation of charts and presentations to student employees who are more tech-savvy, freeing up management to focus on the strategic direction of the company. In other words, assign tasks to people who do them best.
If you are our tenant, and would like to receive e-invitations to future events, please email us at industrial@mapletree.com.sg.