New platform launched for SMEs to engage workers, improve workplace culture

SINGAPORE – The NTUC has launched a platform to help smaller companies improve workplace culture and engage better with their staff.

The service has been set up by U Small and Medium Enterprises (U SME), an initiative to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tackle critical issues and challenges.

The new platform – it’s called Build Your Own Party – is a one-stop resource for company activities, such as team-building sessions.

Companies and their staff can use it to sign up for NTUC U SME-organised events or plan their own customised activities with partner vendors on the platform.

The vendors include Epic Workshops, which specialises in creative terrarium-building workshops, and City Sprouts, which runs urban farming and green workshops and events.

The platform was developed in response to feedback from SMEs and their workers, who said it was challenging to find the time and resources to plan company activities, said the NTUC and U SME on Nov 7.

Its launch coincided with U SME’s 10th anniversary, an event commemorated at Parkroyal on Beach Road on Nov 7.

Around 500 SMEs joined the NTUC U SME network in 2024, bringing its number to more than 1,500.

The network allows SMEs to find out more about the benefits of joining the labour movement.

If they do unionise – 124 have done so in recent years – they will be placed with one of the trade unions affiliated with NTUC.

“SME workers are an important segment of our workforce, with SMEs accounting for over 70 per cent of total employment,” said NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng.

“For the past 10 years, NTUC U SME and the wider NTUC ecosystem have worked hard to provide SMEs and SME workers with structured support, resources and benefits, so that they can look forward to better wages, welfare and work prospects,” said Mr Ng.

Seng Choon Farm, which incorporated in Singapore in 1987 as a high-tech poultry farm, unionised in 2024.

The farm wanted to work with NTUC to enhance worker efficiency by using artificial intelligence and automation, said managing director Koh Yeow Koon.

“With higher productivity, this would also translate to higher wages for our workers,” he added.

NTUC U SME has also introduced other initiatives over the past decade to improve career progression, protections and privileges for SME workers and to support firms in their business needs.

One initiative involves helping 70 SMEs develop transformation strategies that align with their business strategies and goals. It uses the Operation and Technology Roadmap to identify technologies and training needs to increase their competitive edge, said NTUC and U SME.

Mr Ng noted: “We are glad that our efforts over the past decade have begun to bear fruit, with more SMEs and SME workers recognising the benefits they can enjoy and coming forward to join us as partners and members.”