Recently, several grants and programs have been announced by the Singapore Government to help SMEs and Business Owners in Retail, Food and other sectors to encourage businesses to take measures that will enable them to execute on social distancing measures to contain the spread of Covid19 without taking a hit financially.

There are three notable SG Grants related to the Covid-19 circuit breaker. We are happy to share some information with you.

Enhanced Work Life Grant (COVID-19)

Given the COVID-19 situation, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) aims to encourage companies to offer/continue with work-from-home and staggered hours arrangements beyond periods when it is mandatory to do so. This enhanced criteria is thus only valid during periods where companies are not mandated to offer work-from-home and staggered hours arrangements (e.g. after period of circuit breaker measures).

To expedite support, the criteria for Work-Life Grant (WLG) has been enhanced to make it easier and faster for companies.

Companies will be eligible to receive the Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) Incentive if the employee (Singapore citizen or PR) adopts work-from-home arrangements daily for at least one month. If work-from-home cannot be practiced, staggered hours work arrangements would also be eligible for FWA Incentive.

Companies will be funded $2,000 per worker, for each worker on daily work-from-home and/or staggered hours arrangements for a month, capped at $70,000 per company. The fund can be used in any way the companies require to put in place work processes to implement work-from-home or staggered hours arrangements, including (but not limited to) costs for software/hardware.

Both the current WLG and Enhanced WLG (for Covid-19) will run concurrently but companies are only able to apply for one version of the WLG FWA Incentive. Current WLG vs Enhanced WLG parameters:

See more at: https://e2i.com.sg/businesses/enhanced-work-life-grant/ | Employment and Employability Institute, e2i

Job Redesign for the Food Services Sector

Jointly developed by WSG and Singapore Productivity Centre (SGPC), the Job Redesign Framework for the Food Services Sector aims to guide Food Services companies in implementing Job Redesign through five simple steps.

Food Services companies can leverage on job redesign to complement and sustain their efforts to improve the productivity and overall performance of your workforce.

WSG’s Job Redesign Place-and-Train (JR PnT) Programme for Food Services Industry aims to help
companies in the food services industry train and upskill workers to take on redesigned and
enhanced job roles as companies undergo a business transformation. WSG will work with
participating companies to customise their training plans, which can comprise a mix of classroom
and on-the-job training (OJT) or 100% OJT, depending on the company’s needs.

The Job Redesign Place-and-Train Programme for Food Services Industry is part of the holistic
support provided to food services companies undergoing business transformation and job redesign.
The programme encourages and enables employers to review, optimise and value-add to existing
jobs in order to create higher quality jobs and a heightened sense of job satisfaction amongst the
employees.

Click here for the Food Services Job Redesign quick guide.

Job Redesign Place And Train Programme For Retail

The Job Redesign Place and Train Programme for the Retail Industry aims to reskill existing staff and/or new hires for redesigned roles within the company.

The Programme is part of the holistic support to progressive retailers under the Retail Job Redesign Framework to ensure the reskilling of the current workforce to allow them to take on new roles arising from the on-going enterprise transformation.

Under the Adapt and Grow initiative, the Job Redesign Place-and-Train Programme for
Retail Industry is introduced by Workforce Singapore (WSG) to help retailers train and
upskill workers to take on redesigned job roles. The programme encourages and enables
employers to review, optimise and value-add to existing jobs in order to create higher quality
jobs and a heightened sense of job satisfaction amongst the employees.

Through the programme, WSG will work with retailers to customise their training plans,
which can comprise of a mix of classroom and on-the-job training or be on 100 per cent on-the-job training. Retailers can receive up to 90% salary support for the training duration.

Click here to get more details.

If you need an interactive 1:1 Q n A session, we would be happy to organize one with someone who is an expert and is in the know of how to apply and prepare your documents and paperwork to apply. Do let us know by sending us an email.

We urge you to join our Facebook Community of Small Biz Owners: A private group where like-minded people meet, interact, network, share ideas, share knowledge and learn from each other in a safe space. It is Called SSSSH..(Small Biz Owners, Solopreneurs Social Media Secret Success Hacks). Here is the link.