Training, motivation also vital in productivity drive

The report “SBF chief urges Govt not to tighten labour policies further” (Sept 26) mentioned that productivity is lagging in construction and food services despite schemes such as Productivity and Innovation Credit.

And the Singapore Business Federation chief executive said he saw “no light at the end of the tunnel” for Singapore’s target of 2 to 3 per cent in annual productivity growth by 2020.

There was no mention, though, of the human resource management in our companies or whether sufficient training is being provided and workers are motivated in terms of appreciation as well as personal and career development.

Staff who have good knowledge of their work processes and are trained well would be able to perform their job efficiently. Given proper motivation, they would also try to improve on existing systems.

In hands-on, skills-based industries such as construction, food services and chemicals, good training and investments in technology are even more important for effective, safe work. So is motivation in these physically and mentally tiring jobs.

To devise better help schemes, government agencies must identify bottlenecks in work processes that companies in labour-intensive sectors face, such as poor training, work fatigue and poor motivation as a result of stagnant job scopes.