TechHR Spotlight: Peck Kem Low of Singapore’s Public Service Division
Singapore is ranked as one of the world’s most competitive and most diverse epicentres of talent. The country’s adult population has a literacy rate of 97.6% while more than a third of the overall population holds a university degree.
In the years between 2015 and 2020, it invested more than S$1billion into continuing education and training.
The country is home to professionals from diverse cultures and backgrounds, from young professionals who are just about to begin their career to the world’s most highly regarded business decision makers.
Behind Singapore’s stellar accomplishments are people and culture leaders who are empowering talent – CHROs and Chief People Officers who are on the frontlines of transformation and creating tremendous impact in the world of business and work.
Among them is Peck Kem Low, CHRO and Advisor on Workforce Development at Singapore’s Public Service Division, who spoke to People Matters about her work at PSD and how it aligns with the national talent strategy. Peck Kem will be gracing TechHR Singapore 2024 with her presence along with other stalwarts of the HR, tech and business community of Southeast Asia and the world.
HR removing talent barriers
“We are in service of the public and we have three core values of integrity, service and excellence. So, when we hire people, we hire people for these three core values and also for the competencies that they bring into a job,” Peck Kem said during our exclusive interview.
“If you look at it, fundamentally, it is really public service for good. And being paid to do good in a country that I live in – what more could you ask for in a job!” she said with glee.
“We believe that everybody wants to do a good job. So, all you need to do is ensure that you give them an environment that is safe, equip them with the right skills, give them the right platform and – if you need to create sandboxes for them to do it – lead them to go do their magic. And like I said – with the core values of integrity, service, excellence – people come with the right kind of purpose of, ‘why I am in public service,’ and a high level of integrity.
“I come with a view of: ‘I want to serve.’ And also, whatever it is I’m doing, I want to be excellent in it. Not perfect. But excellent. [There] is a lot of difference between perfection and excellence. And with that, you know, you just let people play,” she said.
“I think in many organisations, not just in public service, HR’s job is really to help sometimes remove barriers. As we build platforms, we also have to learn to start to remove barriers.”
PSD: Building a smart, digitally savvy workforce
“Singapore, as a country you know, we don’t have any natural resources apart from our people. So it then makes a lot of sense for us to make sure that a lot of our investments are really in the human capital aspect of the country,” Peck Kem told People Matters.
“Being in public service [means] supporting the national agenda of where Singapore wants to go into. For example, Singapore has been moving more towards being a smart nation and really embracing technology as well as digitisation.”
With that shared mission, PSD is working hard to ensure public service is also becoming a smart and digitally savvy government agency to better serve citizens and businesses in Singapore.
“And being the single largest employer, we also wanted to make sure that our ambition of being a progressive, forward-looking public service, we try to be a role model for other companies to look up to in terms of progressive and fair people practices,” Peck Kem said.
Investing in skills development
Parallel to Singapore’s goal of raising a digital-ready workforce is the expansion of its skills programme.
Since 2015, all Singaporeans aged 25+ years are entitled to an initial SkillsFuture Credit of $500, which does not expire, plus a one-time top-up of S$500, which is available until 2025. The credit can be used towards upskilling in a wide range of eligible courses.
This year, those aged 40+ can also take part in the Level-Up programme, which enables them to pursue a major skills reboot, especially amid the dawn of AI at work.
“Singapore is making sure that our workforce is skilled to be ready for the future. So, a lot of emphasis is on how [we] continue to invest in the workforce and continue to develop the workforce, so that they are going to become more employable for a longer time,” Peck Kem said.
“At the national level, we have actually put money where our mouth is, so every Singaporean will have a $500 – and now $1,000 – into their SkillsFuture fund. So, if you work in an organisation that doesn’t have the budget to send you for this particular training and you might not want to come up with your own money, then by all means, tap on the SkillsFuture fund to upgrade yourself.”