Singapore's Manpower Ministry on support provided to staff affected by Grab's layoffs

Digital Industry Singapore is working with the Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation to facilitate a smooth transition of the affected staff.

Addressing a Parliamentary question on Wednesday (5 July 2023), Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) shared more on Grab Holdings' (Grab) recent decision to lay off 1,000 employees.

Member of Parliament Saktiandi Supaat had enquired about when the Ministry became aware of the firm's retrenchment decision, given that its statement in September 2022 showed no indication to undertake mass layoffs; the proportion of cut jobs that were held by Singaporean workers, and if the Ministry is corresponding with Grab to help displaced workers transition in finding suitable employment.

Clarifying the points above, MOM said the Ministry got to know of the firm's decision to cut jobs on 20 June 2023, further noting that it received mandatory retrenchment notifications which were submitted by Grab within five working days after affected employees were notified of their retrenchment, following legal requirements under the Employment Act.

Upon inspection of the retrenchment notifications received by MOM, it has revealed that the workforce profile of the group before and after the retrenchment exercise is mostly similar.

In efforts to address the needs of displaced workers, Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) is working with the Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation, comprising representatives from MOM, Workforce Singapore, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), to facilitate a smooth transition of the affected staff.

In particular, e2i has been in touch with Grab and has offered career coaching services, employability workshops, and other initiatives to facilitate employment.

Thank you for reading our story! Please leave us a comment if you enjoy our content — take our 2023 Readers' Survey here.

Lead image / Shutterstock