ISSUE 03 I JULY 2020

SkillFully is created to provide enterprises with useful information on SkillsFuture initiatives. Through SkillFully, we hope to stay connected with you as you power up your workplace “fully” with competitive skills.

Starbucks: Building a take-home cafe experience during COVID-19

The Chinese Wedding Shop: Never too small, too old or too late to innovate

Prudential: Partnering SMEs through their innovation journeys

Top 10 Popular Online

Learning Courses

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Dear friends and partners,

Welcome to the third edition of SkillFully!

In this edition we are happy to share with you three stories we are proud of from our enterprise friends who have embraced change and innovated with resilience.

Hear the heartwarming sharing by The Chinese Wedding Shop, Starbucks and Prudential on their innovation journey, and see through the lens of a small and medium-sized enterprise and two multi-national corporations. We learnt that COVID-19 has impacted every business regardless of size, and it was those with an innovation mindset who thrived. The team at SkillsFuture Singapore is privileged to work with these exemplary employers to bring their stories to you and we hope you will be inspired to think about your own skills strategy as you transform.

To debunk the myth that training came to a standstill during the circuit breaker period, we have also included a listing of the top 10 popular online learning courses that employers had sent their employees to. It is an opportune time to start developing your own learning culture if you have not done so, as subsidy support from the government is at an all-time high. Over 800 employers had successfully overcome the struggles, you can too. If you need more information on the various jobs and skills initiatives, you can visit the Enterprise Portal for Jobs and Skills (EPJS).

For enterprises in the food services and retail sectors, we have also included a small feature on the Digital Resilience Bonus (DRB) administered by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) as well as relevant training programmes to develop complementary skills.

The month of July is buzzling with excitement as we have also launched the SkillsFuture Month and SGUnited Jobs and Skills initiatives. Scan the QR codes below to find out more about the programmes lined up under each initiative.

We hope you will enjoy this edition of SkillFully and do connect with us if there are areas you would like us to cover in the next edition.

Till then, stay safe and keep learning.

Yours Sincerely, Team @ The Enterprise Engagement Office

Message from the Editorial Team

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Fundamentals of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)

Develop a Positive Mindset to WorkplaceChanges

Manage Workplace Challenges with Resilience

Learning continued even during the Circuit Breaker period.

(04) ICDL - Perform Advanced Spreadsheet Functions

(05) Respond to Service Challenges

(06) Develop A Risk Management Implementation Plan

(07) SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace

(08) Implement Incident Management Process

(09) ICDL - Perform Spreadsheet Functions

(10) Mentoring for Professional Growth

Popular Online Learning Courses

Top 10

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Partnering SMEs through their innovation journeysIn the third quarter of this year, the SME Skills Accelerator Programme will be available as part of Prudential Singapore’s value-adding services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“The accelerator programme was made possible through a collaboration among government agency, training partners and private sector organisations, to create a holistic solution that supports SMEs in their innovation efforts”, said Miss Magdelene Loh, Prudential Singapore’s Head of Innovation.

To develop an end-to-end solution that covers skills development, design innovation and implementation of digital solutions is an ambitious plan, but one that Prudential felt was important as “people have good ideas all the time”, and we should enable them with the know-how to succeed. “After all, to translate an idea into a practical solution, it is the process that counts”, Miss Loh shared.

Using a design-thinking approach to create the SME Skills Accelerator ProgrammePrudential borrows from the field of design-doing and uses the four stages of ideate, implement, impact and inspire to guide its innovation process. These stages range from the development of ideas, to testing, prototyping, and selecting the best idea, all the way to the eventual launch of the product or programme.

Emboldened by the success of its own design-thinking workshops with their internal staff, Prudential brought together 78 SMEs across 50 industries and government agency – SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) to co-create the SME Skills Accelerator Programme. It was a remarkable achievement as the programme was designed entirely ground-up with inputs provided by the SMEs. “Co-creation means all the stakeholders’ inputs are taken into consideration to form a holistic picture of what’s happening on the ground,” said Miss Loh. “This will ensure the programmes are relevant and practical,” she added.

Three workshops were held virtually during the circuit breaker period – each workshop illuminated new insights and built on the findings of the previous ones to shape the programme. During the workshops, the SMEs were guided through the four stages of innovation and encouraged to share their aspirations, problem statements and implementation challenges.

Building an ecosystem for sustainable supportIt was from these co-creation workshops that Miss Loh realised SMEs were receptive to innovation but faced challenges in translating the skills gained into tangible applications at work. This insight was particularly enlightening as it meant Prudential had to equip SMEs with assistance beyond training advisory. In packaging the SME Skills Accelerator Programme, Prudential would be including information on relevant government grants to fund innovation projects and other useful resources such as consulting services to advise for the SMEs. One concrete example of Prudential’s go-the-extra-mile effort to ensure an end-to-end solution was its collaboration with the Singapore Management University to tap on its SGUnited Skills Programme to access the mid-career trainees for project implementation support.

This end-to-end vision is what Prudential hopes the accelerator programme will achieve. SMEs attend training to acquire skills, are connected to relevant resources, grants and manpower to create innovative projects, and to be in a community of like-minded SME network to bounce ideas. Accept that innovation is inevitable“It is understandable to be ambivalent about innovation,” Miss Loh said.

The methods of calculating life insurance remain relatively unchanged, and new product innovation in the insurance sector is infrequent. It is also relatively easy for competitors to copy so they generally have less motivation to innovate on their own.

With digitalisation and changing consumer expectations, Prudential has embraced the “new normal” and made innovation part of its brand value with a goal of “innovating to help everyone live well”.

To borrow the words of philosopher, G.K Chesterson: “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly”, Miss Loh said. To those who are hesitant about innovation, her advice was: “Be comfortable with ambiguity. Go in and ask the right questions. Seeing the initial results will give you confidence to do more, and in turn lead to more opportunities.”

If you are inspired by the story, do join the SME Skills Accelerator Programme with Prudential to help you embark on your innovation journey.

Be comfortable with ambiguity. Go in and ask the right questions. Seeing the initial results will give you confidence to do more, and in turn lead to more opportunities.

– Magdelene Loh, Head of Innovation

With its focus on co-creation and design innovation, Prudential Singapore hopes to be able to guide SMEs through their enterprise transformation.

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How would you describe an experience at Starbucks? Every detail ranging from the unique murals on the wall, its merchandise, and even the way the barista greets individual customers are carefully crafted to create the best cafe experience possible. Part of the allure of Starbucks, is being able to dine-in.

This made the wrecking ball of COVID-19 exceptionally painful for the company to deal with.

Dwindling tourist numbers and work-from-home requirement meant a drastic fall in sales, which was only worsened by the circuit breaker ban on dining in. Manpower issues also kicked in as almost 14 percent of Starbucks’ 2,600 employees were affected by the closure of the Malaysian border.

Through it all, General Manager, Mr Patrick Kwok, counted his blessings: “We were lucky to have an opportunity to serve Singapore through this pandemic, so we needed to make sure we did everything right,” he stated.

Starbucks responded by obtaining the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for its staff working in the outlets, and restricted movement of employees across outlets. The company was also working with their landlords to find a favourable rental cost solution by the time the circuit breaker was in full swing.

To manage the high labour costs, Starbucks tapped on the government’s support such as the Job Support Scheme and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)’s Enhanced Training Support Package (ETSP). Almost 300 staff attended courses such as the “WSQ Respond to Service Challenges” and “WSQ Provide Go-the-extra-mile-service”. Thanks to the ETSP, 90 percent of course fees were subsidised by SSG and for some employees, 90 percent of their basic hourly salary cost was defrayed by the Enhanced Absentee Payroll funding with a cap of $10 per hour.

These government support measures helped the company addressed most of the basic bread and butter problems, but one question remained: “Without the dine-in experience, how could the company continue with community engagement and bring the unique Starbucks experience to homes?”

Keeping the Starbucks “touch”Thanks to its early efforts in digitalisation, Starbucks had no problem delivering its products and experience into people’s homes.

The company started working with delivery partners as early as in 2018, and by 2019, it had replaced all the point-of-sale systems (POS) across the outlets. It also added the Mobile Order & Pay (MO&P) function on its mobile app to facilitate quick orders, pickups, and contactless coffee runs.

By 2020, all three delivery platforms were connected to the POS systems and a live integrated inventory system linked the in-store, delivery and MO&P platforms.

More had to be done, however, to retain the personal touch and connection with customers.

Digital marketing played a big part in closing the gap. Observing that

Constant “health-checks”Mr Kwok proudly acknowledged that Starbucks’ ability to thrive in the pandemic must be credited to their people and the strong culture built over the years.

Staff are called “partners”, and headquarters - “the support centre”. Such labels accurately represent their contributions to the business. Monthly and weekly meetings continued to be held online during the circuit breaker period, and social channels were available for employees across the organisation to connect with one another.

Starbucks believed that if you want staff to engage with you, you have to keep talking to them.

Between 2018 and 2019, Starbucks also conducted 20 “open forums”, to connect with 1,600 of its partners and gave them a platform to raise concerns and provide direct feedback.

Excitedly, Mr Kwok shared: “We could answer 90 to 95 percent of their questions! That means we’re doing something right!” As for the remaining questions, he said: “These are new ideas and things we can further improve on.”

He compared these meetings to health-checks. “If you regularly check to see if your body is healthy, you won’t have any surprises.”

Starbucks’ people philosophy is clearly exemplary as summed up by Mr Kwok on his reflections of the pandemic: “If you take care of your staff, they will take care of you.”

more people would engage in stay-home activities, the team responded by posting coffee-related recipes such as coffee-banana fritters and coffee pancakes, and tips on how to spice up one’s morning cup of coffee, or “ways to take a coffee break” on their digital platforms. Encouraging quotes were also shared on their Facebook and Instagram accounts, and the public was invited to keep up the good spirits by posting their own “good moments” in the comments section. In going digital, the team also did not forget the human touch as encouraging messages were also hand written on the takeaway cups and bags sent for delivery.

These might seem like simple gestures, but it enabled Starbucks to “engage with and deliver positive vibes to the community”, offering a small dose of the Starbucks experience.

A track record of investment in people and innovation helped Starbucks buffer the impacts of COVID-19.

Building a take-home cafe experience during COVID-19

If you want people to engage with you, you have to keep talking to the people. - Patrick Kwok, General Manager

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Never too small, too old or too late to innovate

Setting up a website and online store seemed like the right business decision when the digital wave hit. Or so Miss Michelle Neo, owner of The Chinese Wedding Shop, thought when she first tried to bring her business online back in 2015.

She was wrong. There was an increase of enquiries online – but none of these translated to sales. The cost of maintaining her online platform became too high.

Turning adversity into opportunityNonetheless, rather than proclaiming her digitalisation attempt as a “failure”, Miss Neo saw a silver lining in going digital as it was a good way to market her company. She shelved the e-commerce shop and invested in Facebook ads and Google Adwords to drive traffic to the physical shops instead.

This resilience was what propelled Miss Neo to succeed today. After all, The Chinese Wedding Shop was started when she was retrenched during the 2008 financial crisis.

Then in her early thirties, Miss Neo noticed her friends were struggling to follow the traditional Chinese customs while preparing for their weddings. The customs were different for each dialect group, and wedding shops were scattered across the island. Couples were often confused of the tradition and unsure of the right wedding products to purchase based on their dialect group.

The enterprising Miss Neo then set out to consolidate the Chinese wedding information and nine months later, The Chinese Wedding Shop was born. What started in 2009 as a small shop run by Miss Neo and her husband, it has now expanded to a team of seven with five outlets across the island.

Today, the company is a one-stop shop for Chinese wedding preparations. It offers consultation on the traditional Chinese wedding processes and provides fuss-free packages catered to specific dialect group. These packages include all the products needed, and accompanying instructions for the processes. Customers can tweak these packages based on their preferences.

The right technology for the right time Miss Neo’s resilience was again put to the test when COVID-19 hit. With weddings put on hold, The Chinese Wedding Shop risked losing up to 50 percent of its revenue. She saw this as an opportune time to reintroduce digitalisation.

As customers could no longer visit her physical shops, wedding consultations were shifted online and conducted through platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. Miss Neo also tapped on WhatsApp,

Facebook chat and Instagram as additional channels to connect with her customers. During this time, she also revived her old e-commerce idea. The website was overhauled with new functions such as appointment scheduling. More payment gateways such as Grab Pay and PayNow were also added. Most importantly, her staff were sent for SSG-funded digital marketing and photoshop courses to equip them with the skillsets to handle the digital shift.

The digitalisation and skills development twin strategy paid off – online enquiries increased more than 10-fold during the circuit breaker period, with multiple enquiries coming in each day. An estimated 20 percent of these enquiries were converted into sales.

Never “too old” or “too small”Miss Neo’s conclusion was that “One is never ‘too old’ or ‘too small’ to innovate”. Her business is a traditional one, and employees are aged between 40 and 60 years old; and against all odds, she was able to get her full team’s support to deal head-on with the changes.

Miss Neo shared that the trick was to make learning part of the company’s culture. Training is conducted regularly in the company – new staff are trained on customer service and sales through courses like the WSQ Certificate in Retail Operations, while more experienced staff are supported to upgrade their skills through higher level courses such as the WSQ Advanced Certificate in Retail Operations.

“Training encourages self-development and develops critical thinking skills to help our staff become more effective at work,” Miss Neo commented. For courses such as the WSQ Certificate in Service Excellence, the trainer came on-site to observe the staff and gave useful feedback to them. Since then, she has seen her staff become more confident and self-assured in dealing with customers. Training is also affordable because of grants like the Productivity Solutions Grant (SkillsFuture Training Subsidy), now known as the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC) which offers eligible companies $10,000 credit to further subsidise skills training and other business transformation programmes. The net course fee for each course was between $600 to $3,000 after the usual subsidy, and Miss Neo only had to pay between $100 to $300 per employee after offsetting an additional 90% subsidy from the SFEC scheme.

She admitted that while innovation was risky, business owners should look at it as an investment.

With her never-say-die attitude and openness to change, Miss Neo would be tapping on relevant government support schemes to carry the company through the peaks and troughs. Her goal is to make The Chinese Wedding Shop become an industry leader – both in the online and offline worlds.

The Chinese Wedding Shop believes innovation is key to overturn adversity, remain relevant, and become future market leaders.

While innovation is risky, business owners should look at it as an investment.- Michelle Neo, Owner

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Find Jobs & Skills Information on One PortalThe Enterprise Jobs and Skills Portal was launched in January 2020 to provide enterprises with access to jobs and skills initiatives offered by SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore.

Enterprises can download useful resources and toolkits such as the Skills Framework templates, SkillsFuture Grants Programme, and the Scheme Navigator and more. Here are some highlights of the programmes found on the portal.

Develop Human CapitalReduce training costs through SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC)

Recruit TalentGroom new talent through Work Study programmes

Upgrade SkillsFind a curated list of SkillsFuture Series courses on emerging areas

Redesign Jobs

Fine-tune job roles through the Skills

Framework to boost business growth

Learn at the WorkplaceDevelop or enhance in-house training programmes through National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning

For the full list of jobs and skills programmes and initiatives, scan this QR code to access the EPJS portal.

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Tap on the Digital Resilience BonusAn initiative under the SMEs Go Digital programme, the Digital Resilience Bonus provides one-time cash payouts of up to $10,000 for Food Services and Retail enterprises (based on primary SSIC code) that adopt qualified digital solutions. Eligible enterprises also have to be registered for PayNow Corporate and the Nationwide E-invoicing Network. There is no need to apply as the Bonus will be automatically credited to your PayNow Corporate account.

For more details, visit www.imda.gov.sg/DRBonus.

Receive Additional Support for Digitalisation

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS TO BE USED

Food Services Retail

Category 1($2,500)

All 3 solutions: Accounting, HR/Payroll and Digital Ordering (Dine-in/Takeaway)

All 3 solutions: Accounting, HR/Payroll and Inventory Management

Category 2($2,500)

Online Food Delivery (via food delivery platforms or own online shopfront) or e-Procurement e-Commerce

Category 3($5,000) Data mining & analytics Data mining & analytics

DRB TRAINING RECOMMENDATIONS

DIGITAL PRESENCE DATA ANALYTICS

E-Commerce Order Fulfilment (The Lean Way) (SMU, 2 days; e-learning available)

Using Data Analytics to Increase ROI for Digital Marketing Campaigns (SIRS, 1 day; e-learning available)

Growing Trade and Business in the Digital Marketplace(NP, 1 day)

Data Driven Customer Experience (NUS, 2 days)

To enable enterprises to reach out to a wider network of customers in a scalable way

To enable enterprises to have the right information to target customers, improve sales and optimise business models

BUSINESS PROCESS

SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace (Lhub, 2 days)

Digital Business: Technologies and Transformation (SMU, 2 days)

To enable enterprises to operate more efficiently and staff to work from home; reducing the need for physical contact

Click on course titles to find out more

Supported by: In support of:

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Reach out to us at enterprise_engage@ssg.gov.sg for any feedback or enquiries.