‘Two years off the job?’: How layoffs and bad bosses are making Singaporean job seekers extra cautious

Singapore: Two years without a full-time job is a long time in a city where the cost of living is among the highest in the world. For some, it’s a sign of the labour market’s realities, and for others, it’s a deliberate choice in the face of toxic work environments.

On r/askSingapore, a recent discussion peeled back the layers behind why some Singaporeans  are still looking for meaningful work after one to two years.

One commenter described a friend who had taken a break from work to care for a child. When they tried to return, they hoped to match their previous salary. It didn’t happen and as the months ticked on, the gap between what they used to earn and what they could now command only widened.

From fresh graduates to mid-career professionals, many emphasised a shift in values. The traditional trade-off for many older Singaporeans — long hours, taking calls on weekends, and tolerating toxic bosses for the sake of stability doesn’t hold the same appeal for the new generation.

“It’s less of ‘I want a cushy, comfortable, high-paying job,’” one commenter wrote, “and more of ‘If the company can [short-change] my parents and me over, I’m not going to benefit them anymore.’”

This generation grew up watching their parents give everything — bodies, time, sometimes even their health to companies that rewarded loyalty with eventual layoffs, or eroded it through diminishing payoffs.

One story in the thread captured the lasting scars such experiences can leave. The commenter had ignored red flags at a new job, only for the entire company to be retrenched “for business reasons” as operations were moved overseas.

“Some of my ex-colleagues have yet to recover from this, mentally and financially. And in a way, I have also yet to,” they admitted.

Now, they treat every small red flag from the interview to early workplace as a potential warning.

To many netizens, a one or two-year job search might look like an inflated self-esteem. But threads like this shine an alternative perspective — many are not waiting for the perfect job, but for safety and the assurance that they won’t walk into a workplace that drains them dry, only to discard them.

In a labour market where retrenchments can come without warning, where the promise of loyalty has worn thin, perhaps the caution exercised by those abstaining from certain work environments is not indulgence, but self-preservation.

Since Covid-19, many have lived through the shock of seeing their livelihood vanish.

Holding out for the right fit isn’t just about wanting a meaningful job but about making sure you don’t lose your sanity and peace in the process.