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Leveraging Grants and Supports to Overcome Challenging Times
15 July 2020
In response to the COVID-19 situation, ASPRI partnered with four Government agencies – SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Workforce Singapore (WSG), Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to introduce grants and support schemes to help companies in the Process Construction & Maintenance (PCM) sector tide over the effects of the COVID-19.
A webinar entitled, “Leveraging Grants & Supports During COVID-19” was held on 15 July 2020 to bring members up to speed on what supports were available. The response from members was quick. Within just a short registration period, about 50 members signed up – reflecting their critical and urgent need to better understand the various support programmes available during these challenging times.
Mr Daniel Ong, Lead of ASPRI’s Knowledge, Education, Experience & Networking (KEEN) Work Group started the proceedings with an overview of the COVID-19 situation and its impact on companies and individuals. He said the Association understood the struggles members were facing and encouraged them to stand firm amidst the uncertain times.
It was followed by presentations from all four Government agencies.
Principal Manager at SSG, Ms Audrey Tay, provided an in-depth presentation on the benefits of developing a sustainable skill strategy. She classified the strategy into three sub-categories – immediate-term, mid-term, and long-term, with different SSG initiatives for each category.
Next, Mr Sreeganesh Satgunathan, WSG’s Senior Manager (Partners and Operations) shared with members tips and initiatives they could use to become a progressive employer. They could tap on WSG’s ‘Career Support Programme’ which offers employers salary support for hiring experienced Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) and also use the revamped MyCareersFuture.sg job portal to source for potential candidates to hire.
To supplement Mr Sreeganesh’s presentation, Mr Edmund Lim, SNEF’s Senior Executive, Programme Management, gave a comprehensive rundown on the ‘P-Max Programme’ for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which offered subsidised workshops and follow-up training for PMETs.
The final speaker, Ms Chen Jia’en, IMDA’s Covering Deputy Director for SMEs Go Digital, talked about the agency’s “SMEs Go Digital’ programme aimed at making digitalisation simpler to comprehend. With the available resources from IMDA, companies could increase productivity, manage business costs, seek new revenue opportunities and scale up operations by going digital.
Attendees were given the opportunity to clarify most of their doubts with the respective speakers.