Commentary: As retrenchments rise in Singapore, only the paranoid will survive

SINGAPORE: The first two months of 2024 have been sobering, with layoffs in multiple sectors.

Just days after the year-end festivities, Lazada made headlines for retrenching about 100 employees right after they returned to work. Criticism was swift - employees complained about a lack of transparency, unsatisfactory retrenchment packages and unfairness over non-compete clauses.

Aside from Lazada, Amazon has also announced layoffs across various locations this year, including those at its live-streaming Twitch division in Singapore, while Google’s staff here were also affected by the company’s latest round of layoffs.

Away from the tech sector, about a fifth of the workforce at local pub and eatery chain Stickies Bar were laid off last month. Swedish home appliances maker Electrolux is also closing its Singapore regional office at Rochester Road, with reportedly 100 to 200 employees set to be affected.

In my commentary published on CNA in December, I wrote about the agony of being retrenched during a holiday season when everyone else is enjoying their vacation.

Official figures show the number of retrenchments last year more than doubled to 14,320, compared with 6,440 in the year before. 

As technological changes bring about “more churn in the economy”, as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in his Budget speech on Friday (Feb 16), experts expect more workers will lose their jobs in the coming months.  

At the time of writing, I know of at least six middle-aged friends who are looking for a job. All of them are capable, hard-working and have a long list of work achievements. Yet these qualities do not guarantee a secure job.

ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE

The workplace is experiencing severe and rapid disruption, in part due to technological advancements.

Intel founder Andy Grove hit the nail on the head in his book Only The Paranoid Survive. This used to be touted as good advice for top business leaders, but in today’s world, every worker should heed these words.

If retrenchment is becoming the norm, then I believe all of us need to disrupt ourselves before we get disrupted.

In Budget 2024, Mr Wong announced several initiatives - including a significant boost to the SkillsFuture scheme and a monthly training allowance for eligible mid-career Singaporeans who enrol in selected full-time courses. Also in the works is a new financial support scheme for retrenched workers, details of which will be provided later this year. These initiatives will go a long way in supporting continuous learning and professional development for Singapore’s workforce.

SkillsFuture is a great resource that more people need to tap on.

I have almost depleted my SkillsFuture Credit with the courses I have taken over the past few years. Each course was taken with a clear objective in mind, such as improving my Business Chinese language skills and becoming a certified trainer for SkillsFuture-funded courses.

Unfortunately, I am in the minority.

Across all ages, seven in 10 people have not used the SkillsFuture Credit since the scheme was started in 2015. 

If you really have no time to go for classes, then try YouTube where content creators have produced lessons for every imaginable topic under the sun.

LinkedIn too is a great resource for anyone to expand their horizons, understand how different industries work and more importantly, be able to build relationships with future employers and colleagues. 

With more than 1 billion users, LinkedIn is the biggest job market portal in the world. Many people use it when they are job hunting, but you should also use it as a business networking platform.

FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU WANT

The unsettling truth is that job security is no longer a given.

The recent multi-sector layoffs and rise of generative AI are warning signals that workers must take charge of their own destinies before disruption arrives at their doorstep. This means they must take concrete steps to disrupt their own jobs.

My career has been marked by continual self-disruption. Over the past 23 years, I have transitioned from being a journalist to a marketer, then to a business leader, and now a university lecturer.

When I was a news journalist in the early 2000s, I was tasked to cover crime stories - it was exciting but also depressing to cover criminals and court cases day in and out.

At that time, Apple was ascending with its iPod, and smartphones were rapidly evolving. I felt we could reach out to younger audiences with technology content, and pitched the idea of starting a tech column.

My bosses were sceptical, but they let me give it a try. It was hard work to build a new editorial section but a few years later, the tech pages were bringing in both eyeballs and revenue.

Admittedly, I designed my new role to escape my old one. But through that experience, I also picked up marketing and sales skills that would shape my future jobs in the IT sector.

The lesson here: Don’t wait for bosses to change your role if you can pitch your own new job.

DO NOT FEAR FAILURE

After my newspaper job, I worked for a major tech company for eight years before I decided that my career needed a reset and left to join an ex-boss in his start-up venture.

From a monetary perspective, it seemed like a disaster. I took a massive pay cut and invested money in the start-up. The company folded less than two years later. 

But from a career perspective, it was invaluable. I picked up new skillsets like digital marketing and website design, and learned how to pitch to investors.

The career reboot was critical in rejuvenating my spirits and expanding my skillsets. It also made me more resilient against life’s uncertainties.

Start-ups need experienced and talented people all the time, the question is whether you are willing to take a risk with them and benefit from the rapid upskilling.

In seeking long-term job security, employees should not be afraid to contemplate various career trajectories and ask: What are the potential disruptions in my industry, and how can I pivot my skills to remain relevant? What opportunities can I pursue to expand my skills and enhance my marketability?

While technological disruptions have made many people uneasy, they have also brought along new ways and opportunities for us to build our career paths.

Once you understand that your career is in your hands, you have the power to shape it and not wait for the axe to fall.

Ian YH Tan is a strategic communications lecturer at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. He has more than two decades of experience working in the media and technology industries.