I apologize to all my readers about the lack of updates on this site for some time. The past month or so has been a low point for me. I am also a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am not alone. Our national carrier, Singapore Airlines recently announced the retrenchment of 2400 staff. We can expect more bad news in the coming months as companies in the hospitality, tourism, MICE, and retail sectors continue to bear the brunt of this pandemic.
In such an unprecedented time, the Singapore government is trying to help businesses to hold on to their workers, and also encourage more hirings.
In this post, I have compiled the key manpower support provided by the Singapore government. They are broken down into (1) retaining workers, (2) hiring workers, and (3) increase wages.
Here is a downloadable summary:
Job Support Scheme (JSS)
Many of us would have been familiar with this scheme as it was announced during the first budget at the start of the pandemic sometime in March this year. The JSS helps companies to retain their Singaporean and PRs workers by providing wage support ranging from 10% to 50% depending on the sector. In August, the JSS was further extended to provide support to companies till Mar 2021. You can find out more about this scheme here. There is no need for you to apply as it is automatically payout in April 2020, July 2020, October 2020, March 2021, and June 2021.
Job Growth Initiative (JGI)
The details of the JGI was only recently announced. The JGI aims to support companies to hire local Singaporeans and PRs from September 2020 to February 2021. The JGI will provide one year of salary support for each new local hire by employers that managed to increase their local workforce from September 2020 to February 2021 (inclusive).
Take note you have to fulfil two main criteria to enjoy this support:
Taking August 2020 as the baseline, there must be an increase in the number of Singaporeans and PR workers between September 2020 to Feb 2021, AND
Increase in local workforce size earning ≥$1,400/month.
Older workers 40 and above enjoy higher wage support of 50%. The first payout will be made in March 2021 and will be auto-computed based on the employer's CPF contributions.
Professional Conversion Programme (PCP)
I personally went through this before and my company benefited from it. This scheme provides salary support (up to 90%) & course fees subsidy (up to 90%) to companies who hire a PMET from a different industry or sector. The hired PMET will undergo a skills conversion training programme offered by an approved training provider. Ther are several tracks ranging from logistics, data analytics, new media, security, digital marketing, etc. Take note that there will be a structured OJT as well as tests and exams that the employee has to undergo.
You can read more about the PCP here. For the list of the various conversion programmes available, you can find out more here.
P-Max
The P-Max programme helps SMEs to job match with the right PMETs to join them with the help of programme managers (ASEM, SMF, SNEF and WAF). There are compulsory courses to attend for both the new hire and company staff (usually the supervisor or HR). These courses help the PMET to better acclimatise to an SME job while preparing the company staff to better communicate and adopt HR best practices. SMEs who take on this programme will enjoy course fees subsidy and also one-off grant assistance ($5000 or $10000 for older workers) upon completion of the courses and six-month retention of the newly hired PMET.
You can read more about the P-Max here.
SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme
If you are a company that is going through a tough time and can't afford to hire staff on a full-time basis, then you might want to seriously take a look at this programme. Under this programme, the company can engage mid-career individuals on a training attachment basis. This scheme will provide 80% funding for their training allowance. So let say you hire an experienced mid-career individual with a training allowance of $3000, you will enjoy an 80% funding for the duration of this training attachment programme. That means you only need to pay $600 from your own pocket. Companies are reimbursed on a monthly basis. Take note there is no CPF contributions or other benefits as this is a 'training' programme.
You can read more here.
Wage Credit Scheme (WCS)
It is delightful to know there are companies out there who are increasing the wages of their workers during this time. Under this scheme, the government will co-fund the salary increase by up to 20%.
You can read more here.
Final Note
Ok, I have summarised 6 of the key manpower support that you should know about. I know it is a tough time for many businesses, but let's try to help as many of our local workers with the support of the government. I was retrenched and I can understand the pain and anxiety during such a crisis with bills to pay. On a side note, I am open to any opportunities you might have for me!
If you are an SME, and if there is any area you may want some help, or an opinion, or just simply a chat, do drop me a message!
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