45 SingPost staff to be retrenched amid restructuring, not related to ‘previous incidents or whistleblowing’

Outplacement & counselling services available for retrenched SingPost staff

Singapore Post (SingPost) will lay off 45 of its employees as part of a restructuring exercise, its third major personnel movement in less than two months.

The move comes as the company focuses on “maintaining the strength and sustainability” of its operations, a SingPost spokesman told Channel NewsAsia (CNA).

Retrenched SingPost staff mainly from corporate support units

The 45 employees affected are mainly from corporate support units, SingPost said.

The decision to lay them off “has not been taken lightly”, it noted, adding:

For affected roles, the company has exhausted options to find alternative positions within SingPost.

A ‘small number’ of retrenched SingPost staff from international business unit

A “small number” of the affected SingPost staff are from its international business unit — the same unit involved in a whistleblower report that led to an investigation which eventually resulted in the sacking of three senior executives last December.

But the company emphasised that their retrenchment “is not correlated with any previous incidents or whistleblowing reports”.

All affected employees will have access to outplacement and counselling services, its spokesperson said, adding:

We are committed to managing this process with utmost care for our employees involved.

SingPost cites ‘prolonged macroeconomic challenges’ for restructuring

SingPost cited “prolonged macroeconomic challenges” as the reason for conducting the restructuring exercise, including intense competition.

Thus, it aims to “right-size and devolve corporate functions to its business units”.

Source: SingPost

This will cut duplicate functions to improve the agility and efficiency of the business, therein strengthening business units’ operating capabilities, it said.

Union was informed of layoffs in advance

The Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES) was informed of the layoffs in advance, it told CNA.

UTES was assured that SingPost had made the decision after exploring all alternative options, including redeployment to other suitable positions.

UTES worked with SingPost to ensure that affected staff were offered fair compensation packages and support before getting their next jobs.

Job matching and career advisory resources will be available from the union and NTUC.

SingPost CEO resigned earlier this month

Just over a month after the three senior executives were fired, SingPost announced that its Chief Executive Officer would be stepping down after more than nine months in the job.

Mr Shahrin Abdol Salam’s resignation announced on 3 Feb was reportedly not linked to the trio’s sacking.

He will be taken over by Group Chief Operating Officer Neo Su Yin, who was previously in the role before Mr Shahrin and who will now assume additional responsibilities.

Also read: SingPost CEO steps down after 9 months in the job to focus on ‘new chapter’

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Featured image from MS News.