Over the past few months, Singapore has been hit with news of companies laying off employees. If the signs of global downturn is not clear enough yet, you’re probably still staying inside a very comfortable bubble. (author: Jacky Yap)
Here’s the list of the companies laying off employees since late last year, along with companies that have announced that they are undergoing cost cutting:
1. Standard Chartered
Global bank Standard Chartered has laid off a number of people in Singapore late last year as it axed 15,000 jobs globally. Its previous workforce globally is at 86,000, and currently employs about 7,000 staffs in Singapore.
A senior StanChard Singapore staff told Channel News Asia that they are distracted and confused about what they should do next. “We are certainly not in a position to negotiate better salaries with other potential employers. The uncertainty is quite scary. We are neither in a position to pick up nor refuse the not-so-attractive job offers in our hands.”
2. HSBC
HSBC has announced that they will be freezing salaries, hiring in 2016 globally in battle to cut costs. “As flagged in our Investor Update, we have targeted significant cost reductions by the end of 2017,” a spokeswoman for HSBC told Reuters. The cost cutting measures will affect the bank’s more than 3,000 employees in Singapore.
However, it has also announced that it will be establishing a larger presence in Singapore as part of the company’s move to incorporate in Singapore.
3. RWS
According to a report on Straits Times, more than 30 employees at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) have been laid off earlier in February as the gaming sector faces cost pressures around the world. The laid off was due to overstaffing and it is not an isolated case. There are currently about 12,000 people working at Resorts World Sentosa.
4. Rakuten
Rakuten, an ecommerce site in Singapore, has also shared that they are shutting down their Rakuten Marketplace in Singapore, as well as laying off 150 staffs from the company. Rakuten would no longer process new purchases from March onwards, two years after it began operations in Singapore since January 2014.
5. Maersk
Maersk Line, one of the world’s top container shipping company, has recently merged its Singapore and Hong Kong regional offices. Last November, Maersk also shared new plans to reduce its network capacity and announced that it will be cutting 4,000 jobs from its land-based staff of 23,000 by 2017.
6. Yahoo Singapore
According to a report from Channel News Asia, Yahoo Singapore has been laying off some employees as part of the company’s move to revamp its Internet Business. No details were disclosed on exactly how many employees were laid off, but what we do know is that the Singapore operations will continue.
7. Barclays
Barclays has also announced that it is slashing 1,000 jobs worldwide. Out of the global layoffs, more than 10 employees from the equities and local market rates teams in Singapore will be retrenched, according to Business Times. Barclays Singapore currently employs about 3,200 staff.
8. Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Bank of Scotland has also announced that they could be cutting as many as 80% of the jobs in its investment banking unit over the next four years. A Straits Times report also said that In July, the Royal Bank of Scotland trimmed its presence here in Singapore, laying off “hundreds” of people.
9. Credit Suisse
The same Straits Times report also shared that Credit Suisse announced that 4,000 jobs job cuts globally, although no layoffs are expected in the Asia-Pacific region yet.
10. Deutsche Bank AG
Deutsche Bank AG, a German global banking and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, is considering cutting as many as 8,000 jobs, which is about 25% of its workforce. It employs more than 2,100 staff in Singapore, though there are no news of any layoffs yet.
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