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By Deepa Pushpanathan
Vulnerable groups in society will soon benefit from holistic employment support schemes, following a commitment by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) Foundation.
SBF Foundation formalised the commitment by signing an agreement on 18 May 2022 with the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and Tote Board, with an aim to uplift the lives of vulnerable individuals and their families.
The vulnerable individuals who will benefit from the initiative include rough sleepers, long-term unemployed parents and caregivers of at-risk children, persons with mental health conditions and women facing challenges.
Over the next three years from July 2022, together with programme partners supporting the four vulnerable communities, SBF Foundation aims to assist 300 individuals annually through personalised aid and dedicated platforms to help them enter or re-enter the workforce.
SBF Foundation’s four programme partners are Daughters of Tomorrow, Singapore Association for Mental Health, New Hope Community Services and SHINE Children and Youth Services.
Meanwhile, SHRI will reach out to human resources professionals, NTUC’s e2i will assist in career coaching and employment facilitation to upskill the job coaches of the four programme partners, SBF Foundation will provide financial aid or increased job opportunities, and Tote Board will look at other possible cross-sector partnerships.
SBF Foundation Chairman Hsieh Fu Hua said: “Being employed provides one a sense of security, achievement, and purpose in life. The SBF Foundation is cognizant that improving the employment prospects for Singapore’s more vulnerable workers is a relentless effort, and we wish to rally our members of the business community to join us and our partners in these efforts.”
To fund these long-term efforts, SBF Foundation is committed to raising $1 million annually for the Employability Fund from the business community. The fund started in 2020 with an initial funding of $800,000 from SBF Foundation and Tote Board.
The signing follows SBF Foundation’s existing support towards the employment of homeless individuals since 2017 and an expansion to include unemployed parents of at-risk children in 2020.
Some 100 employers have since offered jobs to the two vulnerable groups.
NTUC’s e2i CEO Caryn Lim said: “Helping our vulnerable workers with gainful employment provides them with a sense of purpose and has many intangible benefits. This requires a many helping hands approach; e2i is pleased to be part of this meaningful initiative together with SBFF, SHRI and the Tote Board. We are also looking forward to sharing our career coaching expertise with the job coaches from the four programme partners, strengthening their competencies in career coaching so that they can better support their clients.”
Alongside e2i’s support through their extension of coaching and training frameworks, the programme partners have expertise in reaching out and addressing the needs of specific client groups, further strengthening their competencies in career coaching to better assist their clients.
SBF Foundation added that it hopes to provide holistic aid towards the vulnerable groups’ employability challenges by strengthening this ecosystem of support for vulnerable individuals.
NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Chee Hong Tat, who was guest of honour at the signing, said: “Together with our partners, NTUC will continue to expand our services to help even more workers through training and job placement. The number of vulnerable workers may be a small proportion of our overall workforce, but this is a meaningful area for us to focus on, because every worker matters. To build a more caring and inclusive society, we must do our best to leave no one behind.”