Affected StarHub Employees Are Mostly Back-End Staff
300 full-time employees from StarHub will be laid off. The telco giant announced this in a statement on Wednesday (3 Oct).
The retrenchments are part of a massive restructuring exercise that will affect an eighth of its 2,500 employees
Even C-suite officers weren’t spared–StarHub’s Chief Strategic Partnership Officer, Jeannie Ong was reportedly among those let go.
Employees affected by the retrenchment will be notified of their termination by the end of October. StarHub revealed that they were primarily in “non-customer facing” roles.
All in the name of efficiency
StarHub’s layoffs are a result of its new operational efficiency programme that aims to:
- Lower decision-making time
- Decrease operating costs
In a statement, StarHub estimates that its new policy will save the telco around $210 million between 2019 and 2021.
Intense competition
StarHub’s CEO also highlighted the challenges that sparked its operational efficiency programme:
- Fierce competition
- New entrants into the telco and streaming market
- Lower voice call revenue
- Lower profits from fixed broadband services
- High content costs for pay-to-watch TV operations
- High market penetration for mobile and fixed services
To tackle these challenges, StarHub has decided to adopt a new operating model that would better future-proof the company.
Falling profits
StarHub’s profits have plunged for the past 10 quarters and it last reported a profit growth in 2016 Q2.
Competitors that may have caused StarHub’s dwindling fortunes include:
- TPG, an Australian Telco company that won the bid to become Singapore’s fourth Telco operator in Dec 2016
- Netflix, a streaming service that launched in Singapore in Dec 2016
Unions to the rescue
Fortunately, it appears that unions might help affected employees. StarHub’s employees are represented by the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Unions (SISEU).
SISEU will partner other agencies to help affected workers find new jobs. Possible partners include NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute.
These partnerships will help retrenched employees through career coaching and employability training.
Still looking for talent
Despite the massive layoffs, it appears that StarHub is still hiring. A day after the retrenchments were announced, StarHub’s career portal had openings for 13 jobs.
Positions were mainly in the finance, sales, and engineering departments.
We’re not sure how this ties in with the retrenchment. Nonetheless, we hope all affected workers will find desirable and satisfying jobs in the near future.
Featured image from Google Maps.
