ManpowerGroup said the Covid-19 outbreak and the MCO were changing the way people work, and that it was vital for employees to upgrade their skills to remain “relevant and employable”.

The firm’s country manager, Sam Haggag, also said it was essential for employers to have a workforce that could adapt to change driven by automation and a more flexible cost model.

This would also provide employers with the opportunity to diversify their businesses based on their employees’ new skills, he said.

“This is a good time because working from home provides you with more flexibility to allocate time to upgrading your skills. Online learning platforms provide a vast resource pool across industries and skill sets,” he told FMT.

“With significant government support as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, this may just be the best time to invest in training and re-skilling.”

Haggag said re-skilling and upskilling through online platforms had become very cost-effective and could be subsidised even further through several methods including the use of funds from the Human Resources Development Fund and partnerships with intermediaries.

He said employers should take the excess of demand over supply for talent into consideration when deciding on allocations for re-skilling, even in the current economic climate.

Re-skilling, he added, was the most cost-effective way of addressing the talent gap even if it came with the risk of losing trained staff to other employers.

In fact, he said, investment in training was often an effective retention tool.

“This is particularly effective when training leads to employees fulfilling higher value roles that increase their compensation.”

The MCO, imposed to curb the pandemic on March 18, is scheduled to be lifted on April 14.