Group Behind 6 S’pore Hotels Axes 159 Jobs, Offers Severance Package & Support

Millennium Hotels and Resorts Cuts 159 Jobs, Workers Will Get Job Support & Help

With the global travel situation still looking bleak, hotels have been left mostly empty the past few months, leading to severe losses.

On Wednesday (19 Aug), a group that owns 6 hotels in Singapore announced that 159 employees were axed.

Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which owns Copthorne King’s Hotel and Orchard Hotel, called the move “difficult but inevitable” given the Covid-19 situation isn’t easing up so soon.

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Millennium Hotels and Resorts own 6 hotels in Singapore

The group owns 6 hotels in Singapore:

• Copthorne King’s Hotel
• Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
• Orchard Hotel
• M Hotel
• M Social
• Studio M Hotel

They also own an excess of 145 hotels around the world — almost one-third of them had to close temporarily in Jun, they said.

Meanwhile, most hotel rooms remained empty.

15.2% of workforce laid off

Millennium Hotels and Resorts gave a breakdown of the employees they let go of.

The 159 employees amounted to 15.2% of the Singapore-based workforce, of which 42 are apparently foreigners.

Singapore-based workers will now make up 69% of the employees in the group.

They also said that they reduced their foreign employee population by 37% between Jan to mid-Aug — that is, from 520 to 329.

Retrenchments were last resort

The group wanted to assure that they made the decision only after implemented several other cost-cutting measures.

They include:

• Tightening of company-wide expenditures
• Up to 30% salary reduction of senior leaders
• Graduated pay reductions – deeper reductions for higher level staff – for other corporate and hotel level employees
• Laying off and furloughing what they called “excess” manpower across various regions.

They also said that the exercise was a last resort, as there were losses even after the measures.

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According to the Food Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU), who worked with the group on their measures, the salaries of those earning below S$4,000 were not affected.

Employees have 1 month retrenchment benefit

The laid-off employees at 4 hotels – the ones except M Social and Studio M Hotel – managed to receive retrenchment packages thanks to FDAWU.

They will get one month’s retrenchment benefit for every year of service, as well as either advance notice or salary-in-lieu of notice, according to Channel NewsAsia.

e2i and Workforce Singapore will also, along with the union, help with providing job assistance and support.

Tiding through difficult period

In the current climate, it’ll likely be exceedingly difficult to find a job in the hotel and hospitality industries.

We can only hope that the package helps the employees tide through the next few months as the situation picks up.

This is a hard time for many people at the moment and hopefully they can receive more help and get back to their feet.

Featured image adapted from Millennium Hotels, Millennium Hotels and Business Traveller.