yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

EVEN as Singaporeans are being encouraged to continuously upgrade their skills, nearly five in 10 working here feel that the training available to them from employers do not meet their career needs.

A survey conducted on 3,000 respondents between December last year and January this year showed that five out of six Singapore respondents believe their current skills will be outdated within five years and that these would need to be upgraded for them to keep pace with advances in the workplace.

About eight in 10 respondents also said upgrading workers’ skills should be a joint responsibility between employer and employee.

The findings are part of an international workplace survey by human resources firm Kelly Services which obtained the views of nearly 100,000 people.

Singapore Bank Employees’ Union general secretary Bobby Tay said respondents might feel the training they got was inadequate because they were thinking of their personal development.

Employers, meanwhile, would be training for the needs of the company.

But Mr Tay acknowledged it could be challenging to get employers to provide training, even though they may recognise its importance.

“They are also afraid of employees jumping ship after they invest in training,” said Mr Tay.

Mr Bob Tan, vice-president of Singapore National Employers Federation, said that this fear should not be an excuse.

“To retain workers, you should provide good training and good prospects and develop them,” he said.

But he felt employers have generally been responsive to providing training, thanks in part to Government efforts to provide training infrastructure.

Mr Tay advised workers whose companies were not conducive to training to take the initiative and approach unions or the government training centres to explore other training options.