One of the best methods for enhancing employees’ knowledge and skills at work is through workplace training. As for employers, one of the most obvious benefits from providing employee training is enhancing productivity in the workplace and improving performance outcomes individually, as a team, and as an organization.
While employee training might be costly for some companies, the Singapore government has provided funding support for employers who would like to sponsor employees for training. Before we get into it, it’s important to know the 5 main benefits of employee training.
Employees that receive the right job training develop better understanding and increase skills in their work. In addition, gain more confidence in their on-the-job abilities. As employees become more competent and empowered in their talents and abilities, the need for supervision declines. As a result, they are able to perform better and work more effectively and efficiently for the team and for the organization, with minimum supervision.
Training and development courses provide employees with a deeper sense of belonging and a sense that they contribute significantly to a positive workplace culture where they are valued. This often results in boosted morale and higher self-confidence for the employees. Moreover, employees with a higher sense of belonging to their workplace are often more motivated and loyal. With this mindset, employee turnover rates can remain low.
As mentioned in the previous points, employees that take part in ongoing training improve their job skills and are able to work more effectively and professionally. Customers and business partners may notice the refined service quality and delivery, improving the company’s reputation to other stakeholders.
Presenting new technologies to employees is becoming more and more crucial due to the quickly rising shift in technology across all sectors and industries. Tech training keeps employees' skills current and aids their development and evolution as individuals, creating in a tech-savvy culture to the company.
Trained employees tend to be able to make better, safer and more cost-effective use of the company's resources. As a result, organizations might anticipate fewer mishaps and equipment damage. All of these outcomes taken together may result in cost effectiveness.
With that being said, let’s look at the available support from the Singapore Government for companies to sponsor employees for training.
There are 3 types of employee training funding support for employers by SSG (SkillsFuture Singapore):
Let’s take a closer look at each of them:
CET Centres or Continuing Education and Training Centres are public training providers which offer a comprehensive and wide range of Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) courses as well as additional services, such as employment advisory and placement. These facilities offer training in a variety of specialization fields including retail, tourism, hospitality, aerospace, security, finance, digital animation, process engineering, culinary skills, basic literacy, numeracy and service skills.
Other certifiable courses are split into two, and the funding support are as follow:
1. Courses conducted by external training providers
2. In-house certifiable training
3. Non-certifiable courses
4. Absentee Payroll (AP) Funding for SSG-approved courses for Employers
AP funding is a grant to help companies defray the manpower costs incurred when employees are sent to training courses funded by SSG.
For training conducted outside working hours, AP funding is given to the employers to help cover the cost of the overtime pay they provided to their staff. Therefore, in order to be eligible for AP funding, companies must have a Human Resource (HR) policy in place that allows for the provision of overtime compensation to employees for these training hours, and must pay their employees overtime for these hours in accordance with the HR policy.
Do note that allowances that are stipulated by MOM are to be paid to employees for training conducted outside working hours, and can be considered in lieu of overtime pay. The amount of allowance to be paid to the employees must be in accordance with the rate(s) set out in the MOM’s website.
To get started, companies may enroll their employees directly with SSG’s CET Centres or training providers delivering SSG-supported courses. Employees will only be required to pay the net course fee (full course fee deducted by the SSG’s grant). Find out if your desired course is supported by SSG. Be aware that SSG will stop funding non-certifiable courses and in-house training after 31 December 2024. For more details, please refer to the following updates on TPGateway here:
One other important note is that claims are made on a reimbursement basis that might take 6-12 months. Therefore you might want to consider taking a business loan to finance the initial funding cost.
Apart from training, do make sure you check out our other guides on the grants employers should tap on for hiring to make sure you get the best talent for your company.
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Jennifer loves helping SMEs in their business growth journey. She is also an epicurean and has perpetual wanderlust. During the weekend, she weaves poems out of thin air and buries herself in books.
