Layoffs should be last resort, employers should pay retrenchment benefit: MOM

Singapore

RETRENCHMENT should be a last resort for companies to manage manpower costs, and those that have no choice but to do so should treat their employees with empathy and provide them a retrenchment benefit, an advisory from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Wednesday.

Employers who are in sound financial position should continue to pay retrenchment benefit according to their existing employment contracts, collective agreements, memoranda of understanding or the prevailing norms for retrenchment benefit, the ministry said.