While rapid digital transformation is rapidly changing workplace dynamics, employers are having a tough time finding people who can cope with the changes. As per a survey by global recruitment and job agency Robert Half, more than nine in 10 or 93 percent Singapore employers say that they find it difficult to train and hire staff to cope with new technologies. 

This percentage is higher than both the Asia-Pacific at 88 percent and global rates of 78 percent, according to survey results in which Singapore and Hong Kong were the only Asian countries included in the annual survey, which polled 6,075 employers from 13 different countries in January.

The survey also found that 92 percent of employers here found it difficult to recruit new talent with appropriate IT skills – again higher than the Asia-Pacific average of 80 percent and also the highest globally. 

However, a silver lining is that employers here may also be more ready to meet the challenge, as more than seven in 10 or 73 percent had increased their staff training budgets, compared to 65 percent across Asia-Pacific and 64 percent globally.

Mattieu Imbert-Bouchard, the managing director of Robert Half Singapore stated, “While technology is the driver behind business transformation, it is human capital that will determine its success, highlighting the need for Singaporean business leaders to prioritize change management, upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce, and recruiting the right talent to adapt to new technology.”

He added that Singapore’s digital transformation initiatives might have “outpaced the workforce’s ability to adapt to new technologies” and that “employees must be agile and responsive to new technologies” for businesses to take full advantage of its benefits.

The report identified that in Singapore, employers identified three key challenges to adapting their team to new technologies-difficulty integrating with legacy systems and processes, worry that the effort or cost to implement new technologies exceed the benefits and a belief that the technologies are unproven.

However, in spite of these challenges, Singapore remains amongst the most globally proactive in professional development to help their staff learn about new technologies by allocating increased budgets to put employees through a variety of training options, including seminars and courses, mentoring and online courses. Around 38 percent also reimbursed their employee’s professional certification costs.

In its report, Robert Half recommends employers in Singapore take full advantage of the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme to prepare their employees for a digital economy. Given that SkillsFuture is constantly partnering with organizations and launching new programs to help Singaporeans upskill, the report’s recommendations are not off the mark. As technology changes workplace models the world over, skilling and reskilling becomes one of the most important tools for organizations to prepare their talent for the upcoming changes.