As Singapore’s job market evolves to adapt to the impact of Covid-19 on the workplace, more employers require workers to adaptive skills as well as digital skills that enable them to work remotely in new environments.

The NTUC (National Trades Union Congress) LearningHub's Employer Skills Survey report found that ‘effective communication’, an adaptive skill, helps close information gaps in times of uncertainty, establish clear expectations, and align purpose among employees. This skill has become increasingly important in industries including manufacturing (74%), essential domestic services (71%), and lifestyle (50%).

Effective communication was voted as the most sought after skill by 68% of employers in 2021 vs 48% in 2020.

Overall, while digital skills were voted by many employers, adaptive skills have topped the list of competencies which are business necessities while having increased in importance.

Teamwork is the second most important skill (55% in 2021 vs 52% in 2020), followed by leadership (53% in 2021 vs 45% in 2020), negotiation and influencing skills (51% in 2021 vs 46% in 2020) and digital marketing (50% in 2021 vs 44% in 2020).

NTUC LHUB's Chairman Eugene Wong, said "As businesses adapt new modes of working, effective communication is crucial for companies to relay new systems and ways of doing businesses amongst their workforce. Teamwork and decisive leadership are also key to navigating the new world order. In addition, as companies push for digitalisation to attract and retain consumers online, digital marketing remains a top skill. To future-proof a company's viability as well as one's employability, it is imperative to possess a hybrid set of coveted adaptive and digital skills."

"Covid-19 continues to leave an indelible mark on the economy and jobs at large,” Wong said. “To keep viable, many companies which have been pandemic-stricken have had to pivot business models and find new revenue streams. The workforce competencies required to support new ways of doing business therefore have to evolve and workers could stand to benefit from identifying these sought-after skills and upskill themselves where necessary.”