Plans to Supplement Manpower Needs at ServiceSG Centres
Prime Minister's OfficeSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim’s inquiry regarding strategies to meet manpower needs at ServiceSG Centres through secondments or recruitment. Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing explained that ServiceSG focuses on pre-empting spikes in demand by working with agencies to proactively address citizen needs through educational workshops. The centres also augment their workforce through the “Community Kaki” programme, which utilizes senior volunteers to assist residents with digital transactions. Furthermore, volunteers from within the Public Service are occasionally deployed to assist the centres during peak periods to ensure consistent service delivery. ServiceSG will continue synchronising resources across the Public Service to ensure centres remain adequately staffed to provide more than 500 services effectively.
Transcript
3 Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked the Prime Minister what are the plans to supplement the manpower needs at existing ServiceSG Centres through secondments from other Public Service divisions or general recruitment.
Mr Chan Chun Sing (for the Prime Minister): ServiceSG Centres currently provide over 500 services across over 20 agencies to citizens. ServiceSG adopts a few strategies to address the demand for its services.
First, it seeks to pre-empt a spike in demand by taking measures to proactively anticipate and address citizens' needs, working closely with agencies. For instance, during the annual tax filing this year, ServiceSG supported the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore to organise tax filing educational workshops for gig workers, delivery workers, taxi and private hire car drivers. This helps to reduce walk-in demands.
Secondly, ServiceSG augments its workforce with volunteers. ServiceSG has initiated a “Community Kaki” programme, where senior volunteers assist with straightforward digital transactions and teach seniors how to transact digitally. Currently, 26 Community Kakis are deployed across our centres, with highly positive feedback from residents. Volunteers from within the Public Service are sometimes also recruited and deployed to assist with peaks in demand.
Despite the high demand for its services, ServiceSG consistently achieves high levels of satisfaction from citizens. ServiceSG will continue to work across the Public Service to synchronise efforts and resources to ensure ServiceSG Centres are adequately resourced to serve citizens effectively.