In anticipation of a greater emphasis on talent management and increasing competition for key talent, employers are planning to reshape their talent programs as Singapore economy recovering from Covid 19 next year outlook.

Companies in Singapore are optimistic – only less than Ten percent said they are still in struggling uncertain mode, and 44% said they have emerged from Covid and learn to operate in LIVING WITH COVID ERA  and most are back in growth mode.

In line with the recovery, there are expectations of increased competition for key talent beginning next year. Over half of the organizations in Singapore expect to see a significant increase in competition for key talent.

When asked to express their confidence in being able to address a range of key talent challenges, Singapore-based organizations cited linking employee performance to business goals, and understanding key roles and workforce segments that drive business success.

The majority of these organizations expressed a lack of confidence in their ability to manage leadership succession smoothly, as well as their ability to use quantitative analytics to make and measure talent investments in the POST COVID period.

New Leadership succession, identifying key/talent high potentials, and training/development for leadership were ranked as the top three talent management priorities over the next three to five years.

Sources: “This highlights the pressing need for leadership talent in the post-covid economy and the continued war for seasoned executive talent. In this context, organizations are signaling their intention to build or rebuild succession planning programs that will help mitigate the risks associated with the relative scarcity of executive talent in the region.”

“As organizations are turning the corner learning to live with Covid 19, leadership issues are becoming a top business continuity concern. As Singapore-based multinationals are looking beyond Asia Pacific opportunities, a related issue concerns the grooming of Singapore leadership talent to take on global responsibilities – roles that were often shunned in the past, success in leadership development may eventually determine how fast can Singapore recover from this Covid slump.

Effective 1 November 2021, employers in Singapore with at least 10 employees under the payroll will be required to notify the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) of all retrenchments regardless of the number of employees affected. Dubbed as the mandatory retrenchment notification, this exercise has to be filed by employers within five working days after they provide notice of retrenchment to the affected employee(s).

Before this, employers were only required to notify the MOM when they retrench five or more employees within a six-month period. (The Ministry said failure to comply with the requirement on mandatory retrenchment notifications under the Employment Act is a civil contravention, which can garner administrative penalties. "Employers who willfully do not comply with the requirement may be guilty of an offence, for which strong enforcement action may be taken," MOM added.)

MOM also shared that the reason for this revised notification enables the tripartite partners, Workforce Singapore, NTUC’s e2i as well as other agencies to better reach out to affected local employees to provide timely employment and job search support and assistance.

The updated requirements on mandatory retrenchment notification will be reflected in the Employment (Retrenchment Reporting) (Amendment) Notification 2021. "Employers should also ensure that they manage any retrenchment exercises responsibly and fairly, in line with the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment," the Ministry reminded.