Only 11% of Employees Attend Sustainability Training Initiatives

Research from NTUC LearningHub finds that only 6% of Singaporean business leaders report that their organisation as completed at least one round of sustainability training implementation.

By Maggie Mancini

Although sustainability is a growing business priority, only 6% of business leaders report that their organisation has completed at least one round of sustainability implementation. This is in comparison to 14% from 2022. Nevertheless, a positive outlook remains as nearly three quarters of business leaders (72%) share that their organisation will begin its sustainability journey within the next five years or more, marking a 6% increase from the 2022 report.  

Employees perceive possessing the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and implement sustainability initiatives at the workplace—6% to a large extent, 55% to a moderate extent, and 34% to a small extent. However, more than four in five business leaders say there is a gap in expertise and skill sets around sustainability in their organisation where they seek skills like climate change sustainability (30%), environmental management system framework or policy (29%), risk management (29%), sustainability risk and impact assessment (29%), and environmental and social governance (28%).  

These are some of the key findings from NTUC LearningHub’s Sustainability for Business Resilience Report 2024, which investigates sustainability as a business imperative, the current state of sustainability efforts in organisations, and the critical role of training and certifications. Based on a survey involving over 150 business leaders and 350 full-time employees, the report also highlights the in-demand job roles and skills that inform and shape individuals’ career progression and strengthen business resilience.  

While nearly a third of business leaders (30%) report having sent their employees for sustainability-related training in the past year, only one in ten employees (11%) report attending sustainability-related training and about half (46%) are unaware of the available programmes in the market. This occurs while both business leaders and employees express similar concerns over training. 

When sending employees for training, business leaders grapple with employees being too busy with work to attend training (43%); difficulty in identifying industry-recognised courses (39%) and relevant external training providers or centres (32%); insufficient budget for training programmes (36%); and resistance to change among employees (35%). Meanwhile, employees cite being too busy with work to attend training (43%); training programmes not being fully funded by their company (29%); having no one to cover their work while they are away for training (28%); uncertainty about their skills gaps (28%); and limited in-house training programmes offered by their organisation (27%) as key challenges.   

Although nearly four in five business leaders (17% strongly agree, 63% somewhat agree) agree that their organisation has clearly communicated how employees can contribute towards the organisation’s sustainability goals, both groups have differing views on the top motivators for sustainability initiatives implementation. Employees report the top three motivators to be cost savings (46%), complying with rules and regulations (44%), and responding to market demand (36%). On the other hand, business leaders cite responding to market demand (54%) as the primary driver, followed by achieving cost savings (49%), and managing risks (43%). 

Moreover, one in three employees (33%) lack the confidence in their organisation’s ability to effectively implement sustainability initiatives, citing unclear sustainability goals (41%), insufficient budget allocated to sustainability initiatives (34%), and lack of sustainability training programmes (32%) as primary reasons.