10-07-2025
Workers should future-proof careers before crisis strikes, say WSG, SBF
[SINGAPORE] Workers should see improving their career health as a form of professional insurance, especially amid economic uncertainty and rapid change, said Workforce Singapore's (WSG) chief executive Dilys Boey.
The new Career Health SG initiative, launched on Thursday (Jul 10), aims to help workers do just that.
Speaking to The Business Times ahead of the launch, Boey said workers should assess their skills and close any gaps before change is forced upon them.
Whether an individual is five or 10 years into their career, they should take stock of where they stand and plan ahead, so they will not have to deal with the shock when change suddenly hits.
'We always say, you can't future-proof your job. But you can future-proof your career. That's really the idea behind this movement.'
Businesses are also recognising the need to maintain their employees' career health, said Mark Lee, chair of Singapore Business Federation's (SBF) Human Capital Action Committee.
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This is as companies face increasing volatility, from geopolitical tensions to rapid advances in automation and artificial intelligence (AI), he said in a separate interview.
WSG and SBF co-organised the inaugural Career Health Summit on Thursday, where Manpower Minister Tan See Leng officially launched the Career Health SG website.
The new one-stop portal offers resources for both individuals and employers, from the recently announced Career and Skills Passport to SkillsFuture-related programmes and human resource guides.
These are designed to support them at each step of their career health journey, said Dr Tan.
During the event, he also announced that the Ministry of Manpower and Singapore National Employers Federation will launch an Alliance for Action on Advancing Career and Employment Services.
This will bring together private career and employment service providers to develop innovative solutions to help businesses access talent.
It will also explore new work models; strategies to strengthen individual employability; and ways to build a robust talent pipeline to meet employers' evolving needs.
Boey said the idea of career health was seeded during the Forward Singapore exercise in 2023, where Singaporeans said that they wanted more fulfilling and flexible careers that evolve with their personal and professional goals.
Just like physical or financial health, career health is about regular check-ups and action, she said.
WSG captures the process with the acronym ACE: Assess, Chart and Execute.
Workers should assess their skills and aspirations; chart a plan to close gaps or explore opportunities; and execute that plan through training, job moves or career coaching.
Companies can also apply this process in planning how to redeploy and upskill their workforce, she said.
The need for this has become more urgent, as skills are becoming obsolete faster than ever, Boey added.
Companies can no longer rely on multi-year training cycles, or expect new hires to show up job-ready. Instead, they should upskill existing employees who understand the business and have the right foundational attributes.
This is especially as top-performing workers and those at the bottom get more attention, while the broad middle 80 per cent may get overlooked.
Career health must be a shared responsibility, she stressed, with employers actively developing talent by recognising capabilities and redeploying workers into new roles.
Staying agile
Career health is increasingly relevant to businesses too, in today's uncertain environment, said SBF's Lee. Companies are grappling with trade volatility, rising costs and mounting technological disruption.
Beyond external shocks such as US tariffs, traditional business models are being upended by advances in robotics, automation and AI, he said.
But in 'every crisis, there are opportunities', said Lee, who is also the chief executive and director of Sing Lun, a family-owned business whose interests include industries, investments and real estate.
It is just a matter of how fast businesses can pivot and capture them, while helping their workers, he added.
SBF has a four-pronged 'Skills-empowered Action Agenda' for employers: Recruit, Reskill, Redesign and Recognise.
The first pillar, Recruit, focuses on helping companies hire better, including through skills-first practices that look beyond qualifications. Reskill supports employers in training workers for future roles.
Redesign encourages companies to rethink job roles in tandem with business transformation, such as introducing automation or restructuring roles to allow for more flexible arrangements. Finally, Recognise is about celebrating both employers and employees who step up to drive transformation and take charge of their career health.
'If your people are your biggest asset, how do you ensure they're ready for the future?' said Lee, noting that companies must adopt this forward‑looking mindset to remain competitive.
