SINGAPORE - To attract more women to join the traditionally male-dominated logistics sector, job tasks and work arrangements will have to be redesigned to accommodate their needs, say industry players.
Among those leading the charge is Mr Dave Ng, group chief executive of logistics firm Bok Seng Logistics.
Said Mr Ng: "One area would be in the warehouse, let's say, the job of a stock picker, which you do not need to have fixed working hours for."
Instead, he said, technology and effective scheduling allow many people to work on picking out stock and packing shipments together whenever they can.
Almost 85 per cent of the company's more than 250 employees are male.
Bok Seng Logistics is one of 10 firms in the logistics and supply chain sector that signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with labour movement NTUC on Tuesday (Aug 16).
The 10 firms, which together employ more than 650, pledged to implement progressive workplace policies, such as adopting standards on work-life harmony designed by the three-way, or tripartite, partnership of the Government, unions and employers.
The companies have also committed to reviewing their flexible work arrangements, redesigning job roles and providing training for female workers to take on jobs in the sector.
According to Ministry of Manpower statistics, more than 256,000 people work in transportation and storage services, and there were 6,900 vacancies in the sector as at last December.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling, the director of NTUC's small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) unit, as well as its women and family unit, said there are about 80,000 females in Singapore who are not in the workforce but are looking for jobs.
Ms Yeo, who is also an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, added that logistics firms may attract this group to work for them by providing more conducive spaces for them, such as lactation rooms for new mothers rejoining the workforce.
Also present at the signing ceremony, which included a tour of Bok Seng's warehouse in Tuas, was NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng.
He said in a speech that encouraging higher female labour participation is necessary to ensure the labour pool remains sufficient.
He added: "The key question is whether you can continue to import foreign augmentation of labour when there is a dwindling number of Singaporeans.
"I can tell you we have almost reached the limit," he said, adding that foreign labour makes up 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the workforce behind Singapore's continued economic growth.
"Even if you keep the number of foreign friends in our country at the same level, percentages will change."
He also said that although Singapore will need to continue augmenting its workforce with foreign labour in the short to medium term, companies must raise the productivity of their workforce and adopt technology more in their long-term strategy.
To recognise the progressive employment practices of unionised companies and partners of NTUC's SME unit that have signed or will sign MOUs, NTUC will set up for them either a wellness corner for workers to relax and bond, or a lactation space.
Said Ms Yeo: "We want employers to join us in making their workplaces better - a nurturing environment that allows workers to juggle caregiving and work responsibilities while fulfilling their work and personal aspirations."
One woman who has decided to join the logistics sector is Ms Cindy Ng, who was hired by Bok Seng Logistics as a sales executive in June last year and sent to a nine-month career conversion programme.
The hospitality sector she worked in previously was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Said the 33-year-old, who was in banquet sales for six years: "Logistics companies are part of an essential industry as a lot of trade comes into Singapore, so I can foresee career progression in this industry."
