Ask any small-team HR person where their week goes, and you’ll hear the same list: payroll runs, leave approvals, CPF and IRAS submissions, chasing a signature on a claim form. None of them grow the business. All of it has to be done, correctly, every single month. In a lean company that work usually falls on one or two people who are already stretched thin, and a single wrong figure can turn into a compliance problem that costs far more than time.

The software that fixes this exists. The catch, for most owners, is that it reads as another fixed cost, one more subscription to justify when the budget is tight. So, the spreadsheets stay, and the hours keep disappearing.

Here’s what many SMEs miss: going digital costs far less than the sticker price suggests, because the government covers up to half of it. That’s the Productivity Solutions Grant, and this piece explains how it works.

What the PSG grant actually is

The Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) is a co-funding scheme run by Enterprise Singapore and the IMDA. It supports SMEs adopting pre-approved digital solutions and equipment ready-made tools that improve day-to-day productivity without the cost of a custom build.

PSG covers up to 50% of qualifying costs, capped at S$30,000 per company each financial year. HR and payroll software sits squarely within it, as a pre-approved category under the SMEs Go Digital programme.

Who qualifies

The criteria are straightforward. Your business must be registered and operating in Singapore, with group annual turnover of no more than S$100 million or fewer than 200 employees. For selected solutions, at least 30% of local shareholding is required. Newer companies aren’t shut out either; recently incorporated SMEs or sole proprietors can qualify, as long as they meet the same conditions.

How it works: the part people get wrong

PSG works on reimbursement. You pay the vendor in full, then claim the supported share back once your application is approved. That order matters, because of the one rule that sinks more applications than any other: you must apply before you sign anything or make any payment. A signed contract or a paid deposit beforehand makes the application ineligible; however strong it is otherwise.

The flow itself is quick. Choose a pre-approved solution, get a quotation from the vendor, then apply through the Business Grants Portal using Corppass. PSG is one of the faster grants to move through, which is part of why it’s the most widely used in the country.

What’s new in 2026?

Budget 2026 widened PSG to cover a broader range of digital and AI-enabled solutions, so more capable tools now qualify than did a year ago.

We’ve used that shift to rework our own PSG packages. JustLogin’s packages now include our most-loved AI features, which means the funded solution doesn’t just automate the admin, it actively helps your team get through it.

The standout is Justina, our AI HR assistant. Justina now comes built into every customer’s plan, free of charge (subject to change), same PSG funding, more in the box. Put simply, adopting JustLogin under PSG in 2026 means half-price HR software that’s AI-ready from day one.

What 50% actually gets you

This is where the grant meets a real product. JustLogin is a pre-approved PSG vendor, and the packages cover the full spread of HR work:

• Payroll – CPF and IRAS compliant runs, handled automatically

• Leave – entitlements, approvals and shared calendars in one place

• Attendance – GPS clock-in, scheduling and accurate overtime

• Expense – AI receipt scanning, with claims approved without the chasing

• People – employee records and documents off the filing cabinet and into the cloud

• Appraisal – structured reviews that actually get completed

The result is a complete HR platform for the price of half of one, with packages that scale to your headcount rather than forcing you into more than you need.

 

Ready to go digital for half the cost?

Going digital stops being a big-budget decision when half the cost is already covered, and with AI now built in, the same grant buys more than it did before.

If you’d like to see which package fits your team, explore JustLogin’s PSG options or speak to our team. We’ll walk you through both the funding and the fit.