Appointment of Mr Chew Hock Yong as Chairman of Workforce Singapore

APPOINTMENT OF MR CHEW HOCK YONG AS CHAIRMAN OF WORKFORCE SINGAPORE

Mr Chew Hock Yong (周福荣), Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs Development), Ministry of Home Affairs, will succeed Mr Lim Ming Yan (林明彦) as Chairman of the Workforce Singapore (WSG) Board from 1 October 2022. Mr Chew has held several leadership positions within the public service, including as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social and Family Development, Second Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Development, and Chief Executive of the Land Transport Authority. He will be retiring from his role as Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs Development) on 1 November 2022 after 31 years of public service. With his extensive experience, Mr Chew is well-placed to lead the WSG Board to enhance WSG’s capabilities and effectiveness. Please see Annex A for more information on Mr Chew.  

Appreciation for Mr Lim Ming Yan’s Contributions

2. MOM and WSG would like to thank Mr Lim for his contributions since his appointment on 4 October 2016. With the reconstitution of the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) into WSG, Mr Lim was appointed as the first Chairman of WSG. Under Mr Lim’s leadership, WSG played a key role in the development of our workforce and became a key player in the employment facilitation ecosystem. WSG significantly scaled up career assistance for locals by expanding the reach and scale of its physical service touchpoints and developing the MyCareersFuture portal into an important job-matching platform and online resource for employers and jobseekers. WSG also expanded its Career Conversion Programmes to cover a wide range of sectors and job roles. Over the last three years, more than 24,000 locals were placed into new jobs through CCPs, which is 62% higher than the previous three years. WSG also supported enterprise and workforce transformation through job redesign and various employment support programmes. Through these efforts, the number of jobseekers placed per year has jumped threefold over the last five years, from around 21,000 in 2016 to more than 68,000 in 2021. 

3. Mr Lim also played a key role in steering WSG to support jobseekers during the COVID-19 pandemic. WSG had launched the SGUnited Traineeship and SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways – Company Attachment programmes in 2020 as part of the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, to provide more opportunities for jobseekers amid disruptions to the labour market. More than 21,000 individuals have benefitted from these programmes. SGUnited Jobs and Skills Centres were also established across all 24 HDB towns to increase accessibility of career matching services to jobseekers. In addition, WSG stepped up its public communications and engagement efforts to inform jobseekers of such available programmes to support their job search. Mr Lim has also been a strong proponent of building WSG’s capacity in data analytics capabilities and digital infrastructure, and improving service delivery. Please see Annex B for more information on Mr Lim. 

4. Mr Ng Chee Khern, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said: “The Ministry would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Ming Yan for his stewardship of WSG over the past six years. Since the establishment of WSG, Ming Yan has served as Chairman of the WSG Board, and his leadership has been critical in steering WSG in its mission to help Singaporeans take on quality jobs, as well as help enterprises in their business and workforce transformation journey. We would also like to warmly welcome Hock Yong into the MOM family. His leadership experience and deep insights into the public sector will be valuable in leading the Board in this next lap.”

New Appointments and Re-appointments of WSG Board Members 

5. In addition, four new Board members have been appointed to serve for a two-year term from 1 October 2022. They are:

a. Mr Low Soon Teck
Managing Director, Executive Office, Kuok (Singapore) Limited 

b. Mr Raj Joshua Thomas
President, Security Association of Singapore
Partner, Wee Swee Teow LLP

c. Mr Sharael Taha
Vice-President (Strategy and Project Management Office), Singapore Aero Engine Services
Member of Parliament

d. Ms Ong Chin Yin
Chief People Officer, Grab 

6. Two other members have been reappointed for a further two-year term from 1 October 2022. They are:
 
a. Mrs Deborah Ong
Chair of Audit and Risk Committee, Workforce Singapore

b. Ms Teo Lay Lim 
Chief Executive Officer, SPH Media Group 

7. MOM and WSG would also like to thank the following outgoing Board members for their outstanding service:

a. Ms Judy Hsu 
Chief Executive Officer, Consumer, Private and Business Banking, Standard Chartered 

b. Ms Elaine Yew 
Senior Partner and Global Co-Head of Leadership Advisory, Egon Zehnder

c. Mr Murali Pillai SC
Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
Member of Parliament