Built environment sector to draw more Singaporeans and women

SINGAPORE - The built environment sector is aiming to beef up its workforce by recruiting more Singaporeans and women over the next five years.

Part of the sector's rebranding roadmap, the move was announced on Thursday by Senior Minister of State for National Development Mr Lee Yi Shyan, during the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Awards ceremony at Resorts World Sentosa.

"To further enhance Singapore's urban development, we will need high quality human resources in the built sector," said Mr Lee, noting that women account for only 25 per cent of the local built environment workforce.

"We need to make a special effort to improve work-life balance so that younger Singaporeans, including women, would find professions in the sector attractive."

Together with the Ministry of National Development, industry developers, consultants, builders, and institutes of higher learning, the BCA will be rolling out incentives such as structured internships, attachment programmes for teachers and pro-family human resource practices, in a bid to attract and retain more locals and women.

The authority also introduced a pledge encouraging firms to adopt workplace policies with greater staff benefits.The goal is for 500 firms to sign the pledge by 2020.

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