GovTech layoffs not part of wider restructuring in public service: PSD
“Significant restructuring is undertaken only where necessary, in response to fundamental changes in an operating agency’s operating environment, mission or operating model,” said the Public Service Division.
File photo of the Government Technology Agency’s (GovTech) Logo. (Photo: CNA/Raj Nadarajan)
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SINGAPORE: The recent layoffs at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) are not part of a broad-based restructuring exercise across the public service, the Public Service Division said on Friday (Jul 17).
GovTech, a statutory board that supports the technology needs of more than 50 government agencies, retrenched 93 officers on Wednesday, in what it said was the first phase of its transition to a new operating model.
“GovTech’s restructuring reflects its own operating needs as it adjusts to the broader changes in the technology sector,” a PSD spokesperson said on Friday.
Most workforce changes are made progressively, the spokesperson said, adding that “more significant restructuring is undertaken only where necessary, in response to fundamental changes in an operating agency’s operating environment, mission or operating model”.
In all restructuring exercises, the first priority is to reskill and redeploy officers, either within their agency or elsewhere in the public service, said PSD.
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Where redeployment is not feasible, affected officers may be offered the Special Resignation Scheme, which provides financial support. PSD said that the officers concerned were offered the scheme as part of their transition support, which includes employment assistance.
GovTech said it expects to let go of around 300 workers – 7 to 9 per cent of its workforce – over the next two years, as it transitions from a “one-off project-delivery model” to a “continuous product-ownership model”.
The workforce transformation will be implemented in three phases, beginning this month. GovTech said the first phase, which covers teams at GovTech along with those it deployed to six other public agencies, has been completed.
Public sector layoffs in Singapore are rare: The last publicly reported retrenchments in the civil service date back to 2006 to 2010, when 20 officers left under the Special Resignation Scheme, according to a written parliamentary reply in November 2011.
All 20 received compensation generally calculated at one month’s last-drawn salary for each year of service, capped at 25 years.
Source: CNA/rk(ac)
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