12 new members appointed to National Productivity Council

SINGAPORE - The National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC) announced today a new two-year term of office, with 12 new members joining the 28 member council.

Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the NPCEC oversees and drives the national effort to uplift productivity. The council comprises members from the unions, and the private and public sectors.

The new members on the council include representatives for accountancy, information and communications technology (ICT) productivity enablers, research and development (R&D); and workplace culture.

Since the formation of the NPCEC in April 2010, the council has been working with various industries to develop and implement a multi-year plan to lift productivity. Through its outreach efforts via the Way to Go, Singapore! Campaign, the Council has also raised awareness of the benefits for both companies and workers in transforming business practices.

In the next phase of its work, the NPCEC said it is focusing on the development of sector-wide and economy-wide platforms that can raise productivity in a number of companies. It also aims to foster a positive workplace culture, with better engagement of employees.

DPM Tharman said: "I would like to express my appreciation to outgoing members for their contributions in the first phase of our efforts to restructure our economy and raise productivity in the current decade. The new NPCEC composition reflects our focus for the years ahead. We must develop the broader ecosystem to support actions by individual firms to transform whole industries. Critically, we also need to enhance the workplace culture, by strengthening management quality and engaging employees better."

yamadak@sph.com.sg