How workers and firms can hedge bets and widen opportunities

The Straits Times, How workers and firms can hedge bets and widen opportunities

Just like you can’t rely on a single vitamin for your health needs, you can’t bank on just one pathway in the job market.

In a world marked by disruption, jobs are not safe. As if to underscore this point, the first nine months of 2023 saw retrenchments in Singapore cross 11,000 – the highest since 2017. While unemployment remains low, workers would do well to prepare for a future in which they may have to switch careers. But this does not mean it is a hirer’s market, as many businesses are struggling to attract the right talent.

What can workers and firms do to brighten their prospects in these volatile times? It was precisely to answer this question that, in 2021, the SIM People Development Fund commissioned the Singapore University of Technology and Design’s Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities (SUTD LKYCIC) to research the topic.

This deep dive spanned 14 months and drew on insights from employers, employees, freelance/gig workers and union leaders. The result is what we call a “multivitamin strategy” that aims to help mid-career Singaporeans find new opportunities while helping companies secure talent.

The concept behind this strategy is simple. You don’t rely on a single vitamin for your health needs. Why then should a worker place bets on a single pathway in career development or a company adopt a narrow approach in hiring? Instead, both workers and employers should diversify pathways to increase their odds of finding new opportunities and new talent, respectively. Workers should prepare for disruption and pre-empt it by exploring adjacent and entrepreneurial roles. Employers, too, should look to recruit from adjacent or unconventional sectors.

There are lessons for both workers and businesses to be drawn from this research.

Take charge of your career development
The first multivitamin pilot strategy focused on “skilled but semi-stuck” mid-career professionals who had an average of 20 years of senior management experience but were unsure of their next career moves. The pilot identified this group as an overlooked segment of professionals, managers and executives with deep skills that can be stacked for new roles or sectors, preferably before they get stuck with a stagnating salary and diminishing opportunities.

A masterclass led by former SingEx chief executive (and current chairman for Asia at CloserStill Media) Aloysius Arlando then helped the participants position themselves for a broader range of roles. The idea was to stack and diversify their skills across sectors so that they wouldn’t depend on a single path that might run into a dead end.

As one individual (skilled but semi-stuck) said: “As you get older, being in an employee role, there will always be younger, more knowledgeable peers coming out. Unless you are energetic and can catch up with tech, you will feel like you are left out… I have many friends in this situation.” At that time, he had left his job at a large company to start his own business and was contemplating his next move.

We received positive feedback on how the pilot strategy can mitigate risk while opening up unexplored possibilities for a more meaningful career. The individuals were empowered to own their career development and prepare actionable backup plans. This meant they experienced disruption and dislocation, not as external forces beyond their control, but as strategic opportunities for growth.

Think out of the box to secure talent
Many employers find it hard to hire amid competition for a limited talent pool. This was addressed in a pilot with the National Trades Union Congress’ Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit and tech consulting firm ThunderQuote. The lessons are valid for other employers.

ThunderQuote was looking for experienced talent, and many middle-aged private-hire vehicle drivers had corporate experience. Using task-based mapping, we showcased how the diverse life and career skills of these drivers could be mapped across multiple roles within a firm like ThunderQuote.

The success of their digital transformation projects depended on stakeholder management. It turned out that many of the drivers had such skills on account of their age, experience or unconventional career paths. They also had the confidence to be able to talk to their clients’ senior staff.

This was confirmed by ThunderQuote’s managing director Kevin Ng who said: “My young tech talent cannot deal with senior management but the older (drivers) can.”

In short, in this pilot, the company changed its hiring methods to tap an overlooked talent pool – drivers who did not have recent experience in the industry but had the relevant skills. Any gaps in the drivers’ digital skills could be learnt on the job or handled by the in-house technical team. Instead of the traditional train-and-place approach, the multivitamin strategy flipped this around by securing jobs for these drivers and then training them on the job, while their other skills were put to use.

Prevention is better than cure
Insights from Scoot Union leaders, who navigated a major industry disruption during the global Covid-19 pandemic, underscore the urgency of career diversification.

During the pandemic, when planes were grounded, some Scoot staff pivoted to social services (such as working at community centres) or healthcare (they worked for the Ministry of Health and at the airport clinic). Their experience in safety training and dealing with customers came in handy. These six-month stints were meaningful to them and helped them consider future options amid massive layoffs and negotiations during the difficult pandemic period.

Given this experience, the multivitamin strategy resonated with Scoot Union leaders. Amid economic downturns, new technologies and climate change, holding a lifelong job has become even more difficult.

In today’s volatile work landscape, job or career changes are not a matter of “if” but “when”. Workers and employers must therefore undergo a radical mindset shift, moving away from a tendency to focus on short-term gains while neglecting or delaying crucial long-term investments in training and upskilling.

I am in agreement with Manpower Minister Tan See Leng when he remarked at the Forward Singapore Citizens’ Panel on Employment Resilience that workers should not wait until they are at risk of unemployment before planning their careers.

The multivitamin strategy shows that workers and employers can invest in making their careers and organisations more resilient – a key aspect of the career health approach which the Ministry of Manpower is looking at.

Workers will need to prioritise continuous learning, diversify their skills, and be open to exploring new roles and careers. Businesses will have to look beyond the obvious sources to find the talent they need.

I look forward to collaborating further with the SUTD LKYCIC and SUTD Academy as they formalise their findings into a SkillsFuture Singapore-funded Continuing Education and Training offering to raise the resilience of employees and employers alike.

• Patrick Tay is the chairman of the SIM People Development Fund board and assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress.