Nearly 6000 workers to benefit from NTUC Company Training Committee Grant Projects

~ Three in four workers of participating companies with CTC Grant projects to benefit from wage increases and the rest will benefit from Career Development Plan.
~ Workers will soon be able to receive skills allowance through NTUC’s CTC Grant projects.

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) announced that it has established over 2,700 Company Training Committees (CTCs) since the launch of CTCs in February 2019. This is beyond NTUC’s original target of forming 2,500 CTCs by 2025. To date, close to 6,000 workers across about 260 companies with approved CTC Grants could benefit from wage increase and/or through Career Development Plan (CDP)¹ . Three in four or 4,475 of these workers will receive an average wage increase of five per cent above their annual increment. The remaining one in four workers, or 1,410 individuals, will benefit from structured career pathways through the CDP.

Since 2019, NTUC’s CTCs have brought together company management and workforce, and union representatives to collaborate on business and workforce transformation. In February 2022, the Government provided NTUC with $100 million to scale up NTUC’s CTC initiative. The CTC Grant, administered by NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), co-funds up to 70 per cent of qualifying cost for companies’ transformation projects, enabling them to raise productivity, redesign jobs and improve work prospects for workers.

NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said, “The Company Training Committee (CTCs) is an NTUC innovation that would enable workers to gain access to training, better wages, welfare and work prospects. Close to 6,000 workers stand to benefit from the CTC Grant initiative, 3 in 4 will have better wages with improved productivity and the others can look forward to better work prospects. This reinforces NTUC’s commitment to taking action to improve the lives and livelihoods of workers. We will continue to partner with companies and the Government to ensure that the CTCs remain a win-win outcome for all.”

NTUC CTC Grant funds training of workers and provides skills allowance option for companies

NTUC first mooted the idea of a skills allowance for workers pursuing training in the #EveryWorkerMatters Conversation report in 2023. The skills allowance would recognise and reward workers’ upskilling efforts in the workplace, so as to increase productivity and foster a more skilled and adaptable workforce.

To better support workers’ training and drive company transformation project, the NTUC CTC Grant now funds in-house or external training tied to transformation project. This means companies can now seek funding support of up to 70% of qualifying cost for training tied to the transformation project ² . The CTC Grant now provides a more comprehensive support for companies where workers are upskilled/reskilled to adapt to redesigned jobs and processes.

Under the worker outcome criteria, companies are given a third option where they can commit to a skills allowance for workers. Previously, companies needed to commit to providing wage increase, and/or implement a Career Development Plan (CDP) for their workers as an outcome. For more details on the skills allowance, please refer to the examples in the Annex.

Visit to Raffles Hotel Singapore which applied for CTC Grant

The CTC updates were shared by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng during a visit to Raffles Hotel Singapore, a unionised company with the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) today.

Raffles Hotel Singapore is working with NTUC and FDAWU to implement a CTC Grant project on Digital Procurement system. Procurement is a vital function within the hospitality industry that impacts both horizontal and vertical operations. It also plays a key role in providing workers with essential resources and tools that shape the front-line customer experience. To enhance these processes and uphold service excellence, Raffles Hotel Singapore will be implementing a new cloud-based system designed to simplify and streamline purchasing, tendering, inventory management, and invoicing processes. This will increase efficiency, reduce errors, increase productivity, and enhance decision-making through data insights. Nearly 100 workers will be trained to use the new system, with some undergoing job redesign and training, after the project is implemented in 2025.

Besides leveraging the CTC and CTC Grant, Raffles Hotel Singapore will be partnering NTUC to upskill workers with emerging skills like Generative AI and Digital content creation and analytics, as well as leadership and management skills to nurture future generation of leaders.

¹As of September 2024

² Funding from CTC Grant can cover both in-house and external training. The in-house and external training is in addition to the training to operate equipment or software for the company transformation project. The external training is applicable for non-SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) supported courses. Training support is subject to other funding caps/conditions where applicable.