BLUEPRINT FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
A DEVELOPED workforce will move Malaysia one step closer towards becoming a high-income nation.
To accelerate the growth of the country’s skilled workforce, the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) has launched the HRDF National Workforce Human Capital Development Blueprint 2018-2025, which will see the implementation of both short-term and long-term actions.
The blueprint, which was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, outlines strategic initiatives to address workforce challenges associated with Industry 4.0, digitisation and automation.
It tackles concerns over the nature of work change, with the emergence of new jobs and evolution or disappearance of old jobs, and offers solutions to address both disruption and opportunity.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Richard Riot said the blueprint was a catalyst for realising the Malaysian government’s human capital development agenda.
HRDF chief executive Datuk C.M. Vignaesvaran Jeyandran shared that as the world becomes increasingly connected and digitalised, Malaysians are faced with two options: to embrace the inevitable changes or get left behind.
“The key to embracing such changes and remaining relevant in tomorrow’s world is by preparing today,” he said.
Vignaesvaran added that the fast-approaching Fourth Industrial Revolution necessitated the urgent upskilling, reskilling and multiskilling of the country’s human capital.
“We worked closely with the World Bank and have gathered input from various stakeholders on best practices.
“We trust that business owners, human resource professionals, learning and development practitioners as well as employees, parents and young talents seeking to pursue higher education will find the data and analysis insightful and helpful,” he said.
The shifts in workplace mechanisms and requirements indicate that agencies tasked with human capital development, such as HRDF, have to be more innovative and agile in responding to the needs of various industries for the right skilled workforce.
According to a World Bank study, registration with HRDF increases a firm’s likelihood of training by 24% and increases the share of workers trained by 19%.
This translates to HRDF-regis- tered firms having approximately a 3% increase in productivity.
The blueprint was launched during the announcement of “The Dewan” by the Malay Chamber of Commerce (Dewan Perniagaan Melayu Malaysia) and the National Chambers of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (NCCIM) at the Seri Perdana Complex in Putrajaya.
HRDF is working closely together with “The Dewan” as part of the latter’s strategic Smart Partnership thrust to address capacity-building, upskilling and reskilling of the current workforce to prepare them for jobs that have yet to be created as a result of disruptive technologies.
For more details, log on to www.hrdf.com.my