Singapore SMEs to receive HR funding boost
28 January 2014
Singaporean small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) will soon be able to increase their HR capabilities after an expansion of a government business support scheme.
Tue, 28 Jan 2014Singaporean small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) will soon be able to increase their HR capabilities after an expansion of a government business support scheme.
Government enterprise agency SPRING Singapore is expanding its Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) scheme from 1 March to include funding for HR development, as well as innovation, productivity and financial management.
SMEs can use the S$5,000 (£2,370) vouchers to pay for projects from selected service providers, and can apply for up to two vouchers in each area.
Those who want to focus on their HR resources can put the money towards a range of areas, including manpower planning, recruitment and selection, and performance management.
The vouchers are available to local SMEs who are physically present and registered in Singapore with at least a 30% local shareholding, and either group annual sales of not more than S$100m or fewer than 200 employees.
The government has set aside an additional S$10m (£4.7m) to expand the scheme, which previously supported only IT services.
Meanwhile, a report by the Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower finds there were more job vacancies in September 2013 than the year before, with the number of job vacancies rising by +9.7% year-on-year.
The already low unemployment rate fell to 1.8% from 1.9% a year ago, one result being that four out of 10 job vacancies remain unfilled after six months.
Government enterprise agency SPRING Singapore is expanding its Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) scheme from 1 March to include funding for HR development, as well as innovation, productivity and financial management.
SMEs can use the S$5,000 (£2,370) vouchers to pay for projects from selected service providers, and can apply for up to two vouchers in each area.
Those who want to focus on their HR resources can put the money towards a range of areas, including manpower planning, recruitment and selection, and performance management.
The vouchers are available to local SMEs who are physically present and registered in Singapore with at least a 30% local shareholding, and either group annual sales of not more than S$100m or fewer than 200 employees.
The government has set aside an additional S$10m (£4.7m) to expand the scheme, which previously supported only IT services.
Meanwhile, a report by the Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower finds there were more job vacancies in September 2013 than the year before, with the number of job vacancies rising by +9.7% year-on-year.
The already low unemployment rate fell to 1.8% from 1.9% a year ago, one result being that four out of 10 job vacancies remain unfilled after six months.
