A $100 million push to bring Singapore service to the next level has been launched.

The money will go towards funding training and other programmes for staff and supervisors in the retail, food and beverage, health and transport sectors.

It will also be used to pay for research on service, and to monitor customer satisfaction levels.

Also part of the plan: Promoting, publicising and recognising good service.

Announcing this yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say said the aim of the latest initiative is two-fold: Help firms to upgrade service quality and skills, and cut costs at the same time.

Just as importantly, it will allow companies to retool during the recession and prepare for when good times return.

The scheme, Phase 2 of the national Go the Extra Mile for Service (Gems) drive, comes on the back of the $600 million Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) and the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit Scheme, both meant to help Singapore workers keep their jobs.

Spur has much the same objectives as the latest Gems drive - helping workers retool during the downturn, while cutting companies' training costs.

The Jobs Credit Scheme, meanwhile, subsidises part of employers' wage bill, making Singaporeans more cost-competitive than foreign workers.

Since Gems was kicked off in August 2005, Singapore has climbed from 26th place in 2006 to 10th place last year in service rankings in the World Economic Forum's annual Global Competitiveness Report.

The aim of the latest phase is to do even better.

Said Mr Lim of the latest effort: 'We believe that the challenge is not just surviving the downturn, because during this downturn, obviously every customer dollar is harder to come by, but more importantly, we believe that by the time the upturn is back, the whole world would have changed.

'We're going to compete in a very different world.'

He added: 'With this additional funding, we hope that many service companies in Singapore will be able to take advantage of this downturn when business is slower, when there's some excess in terms of their manpower resources, to send their staff for multi-skilling, for up-skilling.'

Speaking at a service initiative event held by department store chain Metro at its Compass Point outlet, the minister said that in the current economic climate, service quality is more important than ever.

With customers more selective about spending, good service can determine if a sale is made.

More importantly, said Mr Lim, who is also secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, upgrading service standards will give Singapore an edge when the economy turns around.

Asked about the outlook for the services sector, which contributes 65 per cent to Singapore's gross domestic product and accounts for 68 per cent of total employment, Mr Lim would not be drawn into discussing how many jobs would be lost.

He said all sectors would be affected in varying degrees. The services sector is beginning to feel the squeeze now, he said.

But he added that the Government's goal is to avoid losing more jobs and surpassing the record high unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent in 2003, after Sars hit.

Despite the bleak outlook, Mr Lim said Singaporeans have reason to be optimistic.

'Let us not be discouraged by what's happening out there in the world. We've not lost our competitiveness,' he said.

'In fact, this time round, the Singapore economy is still competitive. Our workers are still competitive. Our problem is that global demand is weakened. And as a result, the export market has weakened.

He added: 'So given this situation, what we've to do is to continue to rally the ground together, let us turn this excess capacity, excess manpower into investment for the future so that hopefully, we can continue to capture market potential.'

weichean@sph.com.sg