Is Singapore ‘employer-friendly’? Singaporeans say not mandating retrenchment benefits means workers will only be at the ‘losing end’

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans online were not convinced by the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM’s) so-called “balanced approach” to concerns about retrenchment benefits.

Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon told Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 4) that, following extensive deliberation by the tripartite partners, they concluded that not mandating retrenchment benefits would protect both workers and financially struggling businesses.

One said, “Singapore is known to be employer-friendly,” while others argued that without mandated retrenchment benefits, workers will only be on the “losing end.”

Dr Koh was responding to questions from Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh, who raised concerns about contentious retrenchments in 2025, such as last year’s report by The Independent Singapore on Twelve Cupcakes employees that were allegedly not given prior notice before the chain’s closure and Agoda including “inappropriate” severance clauses that discouraged retrenched employees from reaching out to government agencies, statutory bodies or trade unions.

He explained that “imposing strict conditions such as legally mandating retrenchment benefits may affect the viability of companies who are already in financial difficulties and put existing employees, other employees who may still be in employment with the company, at risk of also being retrenched.”

He added that mandatory retrenchment benefits could also make employers “hesitant” to offer employees long-term or permanent contracts and even cap payouts at the required minimum, leaving workers worse off when employers could have given more.

However, many Singaporeans online argued that the ministry’s decision not to mandate retrenchment benefits is exactly why companies are abusing this “grey area.”

“If you mandate retrenchment benefits, you’re actually doing us a favour by filtering out which companies are rubbish and which aren’t,” one commenter said. Another added that workers shouldn’t have to rely on goodwill to be treated fairly. “If loyalty is expected from workers, protection should not be optional.”

A third pointed out that if companies collapse simply because they have to provide basic retrenchment support, saying, “Then the problem isn’t the policy—it’s a system that allows businesses to grow without any responsibility for the workers who built them.”

With how far Singapore has come, “surely employment laws can be better to protect workers,” another netizen added. /TISG

Read also: Singaporeans call for ‘locals first’ policies after DPM Gan Kim Yong warns economic growth may not generate jobs anymore

Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)