In wake of flexible work arrangements, Citigroup may give up one storey of its Asia Square office

SINGAPORE: Unlike their colleagues in the United States, Singapore’s Citigroup employees may be spending more time at home in the wake of the new Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangements announced last month.

The investment bank and financial services corporation is reportedly considering giving up one of the storeys the company currently occupies at Tower One of the Asia Square office complex at Marina Bay.

“The way of working has changed in recent years and most of our staff are on a hybrid-work model. We periodically look at new ways to optimise our workspaces to encourage innovation and collaboration and meet our operational needs,” Bloomberg quoted a spokesperson from Citigroup Singapore.

The decision to give up the space is still under review, Bloomberg added on May 23.

Four years ago, the company already made the shift from nine floors to only six at Asia Square when some of its employees were relocated to offices near Changi Airport.

Amazon later took the floors Citigroup gave up for the tech giant’s Singapore offices.

Beginning in December this year, employees who are no longer on probation may request Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) based on guidelines from the Ministry of Manpower, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

Though not legally enforceable, the guidelines urge all companies to establish a process for employees to submit formal FWA requests.

Bloomberg added that Citigroup’s plan to possibly reduce its office space at Asia Square comes at a time when the banking giant is planning to reduce around 20,000 roles as part of a wide restructuring.

Giving up the storey at Asia Square would translate to significant savings, as office rents in Singapore hit a 15-year high from January to March this year, even as vacancies at prime office spaces hit a post-pandemic low of 5.3 per cent, added Bloomberg.

“The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) purchased Tower One in Asia Square in 2016 for S$3.4 billion (then $2.45 billion), with gross effective rents for grade A office space in the Marina Bay area rising 0.8 per cent year-on-year to S$12.19 per square foot per month in the first quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

That rate ranks the areas as the most expensive of Singapore’s major commercial hubs, ahead of the Raffles Place and Shenton Way area, with vacancy in Marina Bay also the lowest in the city-state during the first quarter at 1.9 per cent,” says real estate site Mingtiandi. /TISG

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