Match those in pandemic jobs to lifestyle sector, SBF proposes

A different foreign workforce quota, job matching services for safe distancing ambassadors with the lifestyle service sector, and flexible work arrangements rather than long shifts.

These are just some proposals, aimed at easing the longstanding manpower crunch in the service sector, transforming jobs within it, and promoting its sustainable growth, in a policy paper published by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) yesterday.

The proposals are grouped into nine key actions, which fall under three factors identified to be crucial to the success of the sector: talent, teamwork and rules.

Elaborating on what each factor means, SBF said talent refers to allowing access to a diverse pool of workers from various backgrounds that firms can select from.

Teamwork entails a synergistic effort to improve manpower utilisation and allocation, and rules mean a more targeted and nuanced manpower policy approach.

SBF noted in the paper that safe distancing ambassadors and those holding other pandemic-related jobs may need to find new jobs as Singapore cuts back on the numbers deployed.

And the lifestyle service sector - which includes hotels, retail, and food and beverage businesses - is ready to accept them.

The paper calls for collaboration among businesses, trade associations and chambers, government agencies, unions, and post-secondary educational institutions to tackle the sector's present and future manpower needs.

Suggestions also include stepping up existing government policies, such as encouraging more leading local and international firms to become "queen bees" advising small and medium-sized enterprises on the skills needed for business transformation - a scheme already put in place by SkillsFuture Singapore.

The paper, titled The Human Touch: Balancing Manpower Resilience With Productivity For Transformation, was developed in close consultation with eight trade associations.

The associations represent the lifestyle, environmental, and estate and facilities management service industries which are facing manpower issues.

The tight labour situation - a perennial struggle of the industry that is now magnified by pent-up demand outpacing how fast businesses can get back in gear as restrictions ease - has impacted operations, service levels and waiting times.

In the paper, SBF noted that although the reopening of borders will facilitate the inflow of foreign labour to support burgeoning demand, the hiring of foreign manpower is constrained by the businesses' ability to grow the local workforce.

For instance, The Straits Times reported early last month that some food and beverage outlets could not find sufficient local workers, which then affected the number of foreign workers they could hire.

Restaurant Association of Singapore president Andrew Kwan said: "In the longer term, manpower policies will need to reflect the changing structure of the resident labour force with the growing affluence of households and higher educational qualifications of the younger workforce."

A spokesman for the association told The Straits Times last month that "(it) is time to relook the current foreign worker policy, for the food and beverage sector to be granted a different quota from the overall service sector", due to the sector's unpopularity with locals.

National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general Desmond Choo said in a Facebook post that NTUC would need to further study the specific recommendations with its tripartite partners.

"At NTUC, we believe that addressing manpower issues must first start with the effort to strengthen our Singaporean core, to help our workers reskill and upskill so that they remain relevant and productive," he added.

The eight trade associations that worked closely with SBF on the paper are the Environmental Management Association of Singapore, Landscape Industry Association (Singapore), Restaurant Association of Singapore, Security Association Singapore, Singapore Hotel Association, Singapore Nightlife Business Association, Singapore Retailers Association, and the Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore.