Some StarHub employees surprised at scale of manpower cuts

SINGAPORE — The writing was on the wall. Talk was that a retrenchment exercise was coming, but some StarHub employees told TODAY that they did not expect it would be such a large number of staff members who will be laid off as part of the company’s S$25 million restructuring exercise.

Singapore’s second largest telecommunications firm announced on Wednesday (Oct 3) that it was retrenching 300 of its workers.

It is still unclear which specific departments will see the most manpower cuts. In its statement on Wednesday, the telco said that most of the affected employees hold “non-customer-facing positions” and the company will begin informing them no later than the end of this month.

In the meantime, StarHub employees who agreed to speak to the media on condition of anonymity are wondering if they will be the ones receiving the notice. It goes without saying that there are those who are anxious and in low spirits.

One of them said that he “didn’t expect so many” even though he already heard that some staff members were going to be told to go.

“StarHub still is a profitable company. We still believe that StarHub can do better than downsizing,” he added.

With workers demoralised after the official announcement, the employee said that an alternative way to cut costs would be to cut the salary of those in the senior leadership team.

The employee also said that the management has informed them of the compensation package that will be offered to those who will be retrenched. They will be compensated based on how long they have been working in the telco, where they will receive one month’s worth of salary for each year of service. This is in line with retrenchment guidelines set by the Manpower Ministry.

He added that the telco will also try to relocate affected employees to the subsidiaries of StarHub’s parent company, Asia Mobile Holdings, which is an arm of investment firm Singapore Technologies Telemedia (ST Telemedia).

One staff member said that she had “mixed feelings” upon hearing that 300 people were going to be retrenched. On the one hand, the decision has an “impact (on) people’s lives”, on the other, she believes that the company has a reason for deciding on that number.

Then, there are those who are more sanguine and embracing the possibility that they may lose their jobs. One said that workers who are aware of what is happening in the telecommunications sector would have expected such an exercise to hit the company.

The industry has been seeing declining profits as revenue from the mobile segment continues its downtrend, due to consumers moving away from pre-paid subscription contracts to SIM-card-only plans.

StarHub’s second-quarter earnings this year went down 22.8 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

“Whatever we are facing is exactly what other telcos are similarly facing. Looking at the trend, some people would have expected some moves will be taken by company to streamline,” he added.

Others are just resigned, saying that the retrenchment exercise is “not within (their) control” and that they are “leav(ing) it to fate”.