Mr Douglas Foo (pictured), Chairman of the F&B Industry Skills and Training Council and Chief Executive Officer of Apel-Pal International Ltd, a forum speaker, said: 'Although we are in a downturn, companies should adopt a long-term view towards managing their human resources'. --ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
COMPANIES can get tips from their peers and tripartite partners on how to manage manpower and business costs through a series of industry forums.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), SPRING Singapore are working with unions and companies to help employers sustain their competitiveness in the current challenging economic environment.
The first of these forums for the Food & Beverage (F&B) sector started on Monday.
There are still over 2,000 jobs currently available in the F&B sector.
Mr Douglas Foo, Chairman of the F&B Industry Skills and Training Council and Chief Executive Officer of Apel-Pal International Ltd, a forum speaker, said: 'Although we are in a downturn, companies should adopt a long-term view towards managing their human resources'.
'As there is always a shortage of skilled labour in the F&B sector, those which make use of the downturn to up-skill and re-skill their workers will be better prepared for the upturn when it comes about.'
Upgrading skills of workers are key aims of the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur), a two-year programme to help companies and workers manage the economic downturn and invest in skills for the recovery.
Companies enrolling workers in Spur programmes can enjoy lower course fees and higher absentee payroll to equip their workforce.
Ms Teo Sio Hoon, Director of Tourism Division, WDA, said response from companies to Spur programmes has been very encouraging.
Since its launch on Dec 1, some 120 companies have committed about 4,200 workers for the programme.
'As Spur effectively lowers the cost and other barriers to training, we hope that more companies will come on board and make use of the programme to manage their excess manpower,' she said on Monday.
'WDA is prepared to help every company that is keen to leverage on training to enhance its competitiveness in these tough times.'
The other two forums are targetted at the Attractions and Tour & Travel sectors as well as the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events (Mice) sector.
