SkillsFuture Jobs-Skills Insights – The Key to Productivity & Growth: Building a Skills-First Workplace

Given the challenges that Singapore is facing today, such as an ageing population and a shrinking talent pool, the traditional methods of recruitment and talent management are no longer sustainable.

A skills-first approach can potentially help to address this. As stewards of organisational development and advocates of change, HR assumes a pivotal role in serving as the bridge between employees and managers and driving the company’s adoption of skills-first approaches. This includes setting out how skills are to be identified, prioritised, assessed and recognised which in turn shapes the recruitment process, onboarding procedures and ongoing development of employees for higher roles. This collaborative effort entails close alignment with business unit leaders to tailor recruitment and workforce strategies to specific business objectives using skills as the common language. We call this a “skills-first” thinking.

In this report, we look at how HR can lead their organisations in strengthening their skills-based hiring and development practices to encourage a “skills-first” mindset and to build an agile workforce for driving business growth and outcomes.