NTUC LearningHub Survey: Adaptive Skills Most Critical to Business Viability in Covid-19 Era, According to Employers

SINGAPORE – Media
OutReach – 5 June 2020 – Amid the Covid-19 downturn, adaptive skills top the list of workforce competencies
that employers in Singapore consider critical to surviving the economic impact
of the coronavirus outbreak. This is one of the key findings in the recent NTUC
LearningHub’s Employer Skills Survey report.

The survey, which was conducted
during the ‘circuit breaker’ in April 2020 with business leaders across
Singapore, aimed to uncover the most in-demand skillsets in the Covid-19 era. The
findings include the top skills by industry: Built Environment, Essential
Domestic Services, Lifestyle, Manufacturing and Professional Services, and
Trade and Connectivity.

 

Overall, adaptive skills
such as ‘Adaptability and Resilience’ (voted by 56%), ‘Teamwork and
Collaboration’ (voted by 52%) and ‘Innovation’ (voted by 49%) had superseded digital-related
competencies including ‘Digital Marketing’ (voted by 44%) and Project
Management Skills (voted by 43%).

 

In addition, two in
three employers (65%) deem ‘improving soft skills or adaptive skills’ an
imperative when sending their workers for training during this period, further underpinning
the significant emphasis that businesses are placing on this competency.

 

Commenting on the
findings, NTUC LearningHub’s CEO Kwek Kok Kwong says, “As we enter phase one of
re-opening the economy, we face a new normal. And as the changes persist, so
will the enduring importance of adaptive skills in helping workers and
companies remain resilient. Workers must actively identify gaps in their current
skillsets to determine the areas in which they need to upskill to keep pace
with evolving labour market demands.”

 

“Adaptability and
Resilience are especially pertinent during these uncertain times as workers
would need to adjust to new work environments, with remote working being a key
aspect. They will also need to be equipped with the skills that enable them to
quickly recover from challenges arising from the downturn, while keeping up the
morale of their teams. In addition, Teamwork and Collaboration skills would
help workers cope with the evolving world of work as they help increase
productivity and spur innovation. This in turn will help accelerate business
transformation.”

To download the full NTUC
LearningHub’s Employer Skills Survey report, visit https://campaign.ntuclearninghub.com/skills-report.

About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub was corporatised in 2004 with
the vision of transforming the lifelong employability of working people. We
work with both corporate and individual clients to provide learning solutions
in areas such as Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy,
Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources
and Foreign Worker Training.

 

To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over
21,000 organisations and achieved over 2.5 million training places across more
than 500 courses with a pool of over 400 certified trainers. As a Total
Learning Solutions provider to organisations, we also forge partnerships and
provide a wide range of relevant end-to-end training solutions and work
constantly to improve our training quality and delivery. 

 

For more
information, visit www.ntuclearninghub.com.