Retail Asia 2018 RA September.October 2018 (Online) | Page 26

FOCUS
Retail workforce
Supporting retailers in
redesigning jobs for the
new economy
The highly competitive retail landscape today impacts employees as they
require new skills to manage new technology and retail formats.
S
tatutory boards Enterprise
Singapore and Workforce
Singapore (WSG), in
partnership with the Singapore
Retailers Association (SRA), have
jointly launched the Retail Job Redesign
Framework in June this year. An
initiative under the government’s Retail
Industry Transformation Map (ITM),
the framework aims to help retailers
build a future-ready and productive
workforce in response to today’s
growing digital economy.
Enterprise Singapore’s chief
executive officer, Png Cheong Boon,
said: “As retailers go digital, embrace
e-commerce and adopt new concepts,
they must also redesign the jobs in
response to the changing roles required.
The Retail Job Redesign Framework
serves as a systematic guide to assist
retailers in this process and also helps
them better prepare their employees for
the new jobs.”
Following a study with seven pilot
companies and workshops involving
more than 70 retailers, the Retail Job
Redesign Framework guides retailers in
the job redesign process. This includes
reviewing job scopes, equipping
employees with new skills and enabling
them to improve productivity and
efficiency. This will enable companies
to optimise workforce and improve
employee attraction and retention, the
agencies said.
Tan Choon Shian, WSG’s chief
executive, explained: “Job redesign
provides retail companies the
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Retail Asia September/October 2018
opportunity to update their business
model to stay relevant and to alleviate
their manpower crunch. WSG believes
that the new Retail Job Redesign
Framework would be a useful tool for
the retailers to embark on their job
redesign journey and we thank all the
companies who have given very useful
and valuable insights and suggestions
that helped shape the framework.”
The framework is housed on the
SRA’s website (http://jobredesign.sra.
org.sg), along with additional self-
help resources including templates to
implement job redesign, recommended
pre-fitted solutions and access to
information on financial assistance and
professional services.
These will help retailers go through
three phases of job redesign:
1. Diagnose: Identify problem
areas and define the job redesign plan;
2. Redesign: Select job redesign
solution and create implementation and
communications plans; and
3. Implement: Deploy solution
and measure outcomes.
President of SRA R Dhinakaran
said: “We are proud to partner
Enterprise Singapore and Workforce
Singapore to host the Retail Job
Redesign Framework on the SRA’s
resource portal to extend its reach to
its members and retailers. This will
enable them to access the job redesign
resources in a digitally interactive
manner. It is crucial to recognise the
value of technology and predict the
skills and capabilities needed in a
future retail workforce. We are greatly
appreciative of the efforts of Enterprise
Singapore and Workforce Singapore to
clearly define retail job redesign.”
As part of the Job Redesign initiative,
Enterprise Singapore and WSG pre-
appointed five job redesign consultants
who can work with retailers to offer
support in the job redesign projects. For
a start, these consultants — Aadvantage
Consulting, Align Group, Carrots
Consulting, Mercer Singapore (in
partnership with Singapore Institute
of Retail Studies), Solutionsatwork —
will work with 25 retail companies to
conduct job redesign. ra
Retailers need to review and redefine their
employees’ jobs while ensuring that they
have the right capabilities and skills to
perform well in their new and future roles.