GovTech retrenches another 38 staff in second round of layoffs
This brings the total number of employees retrenched since July to 131
[SINGAPORE] The Government Technology Agency (GovTech) has retrenched another 38 employees in the second phase of its two-year workforce transformation exercise, bringing the total number of staff laid off since July to 131.
In a statement on Thursday (Oct 22), GovTech said the latest phase affected 250 officers, of whom 106 will remain in their current roles; another 106 are eligible for conversion and apprenticeship pathways to transition into new roles.
The 38 officers leaving the agency were primarily in roles structured around traditional project delivery, it added.
The agency said the restructuring, which will take place over three phases, is part of its shift towards “taking greater ownership” of the digital products and services it builds and operates.
“As with the first phase, we have prioritised retaining, retraining and redeploying officers wherever possible,” said the agency.
It added that officers undergoing apprenticeships are at different stages of conversion, and that it would continue supporting them through the assessment and transition process.
GovTech said it would also work with the Public Service Division, the Skills and Workforce Development Agency, and the Amalgamated Union of Statutory Board Employees (AUSBE) to provide affected officers with career coaching, job matching and placement assistance.
This includes helping them find suitable opportunities in the public service and private sector.
In a separate statement on Thursday, AUSBE said the second phase of restructuring is expected to be completed by November.
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The union said it had negotiated an enhanced support package for officers leaving GovTech, beyond the provisions in its collective agreement. The package, negotiated at the start of the restructuring exercise, will apply to affected officers in all three phases.
The union’s general secretary Gabriel Ng said: “It aims to provide greater assurance as they plan their next steps.
“AUSBE will continue to ensure that they are treated fairly and with dignity throughout the process.”
Career coaches from NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute were also on-site to provide job matching, career coaching and skills-upgrading advice to the affected officers, the union added.
The latest retrenchments follow the first phase of the exercise in July, when 93 employees were laid off.
GovTech, which had about 3,900 employees at the time, said the two-year restructuring was expected to affect between 7 and 9 per cent of its workforce.
In July, GovTech chairman Chng Kai Fong stressed that the exercise was “not an AI-driven downsizing exercise”, but a shift away from managing vendor-delivered projects towards developing and operating critical digital systems in-house.
He also said GovTech expected to employ more people at the end of the transformation than it did before the exercise.
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