Future-ready: Singapore banks target inclusive hiring

They aim to comply with an advisory that covers HR issues like retrenchments.

About 156 banks under the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) will adhere to new human resource (HR) practices for banks that involves hiring, reskilling, redeployment and retrenchment, and encourages banks to equip their workforce with relevant skills and capabilities.

According to a joint statement, the HR advisory was developed by ABS, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) as one of the initiatives under the jobs and skills agenda of the Financial Services Industry Transformation Map (ITM).

This shift in focus will be important as more jobs are transformed by technology and finance professionals re-skill and move into new jobs.

The advisory said banks should proactively assess the likely impact of technological changes on their workforce, and work with the MAS, Institute of Banking and Finance, and Workforce Singapore to reskill and redeploy their professionals into areas of job growth through professional conversion programmes.

Banks should also adopt inclusive hiring practices which focus on the skills required to perform the job rather than set a strict minimum number of years of experience.

Any retrenchment exercise must also be conducted responsibly, and the company must work with tripartite partners to support affected employees.