Employee asks, ‘Is quiet firing/silent termination becoming common in Singapore?’

SINGAPORE: Concerns over “quiet firing,” or silent termination, are gaining traction among workers here, after one employee highlighted how ongoing restructuring in her company appears to be pushing staff to leave without formal layoffs.

In a post on the r/askSingapore subreddit, she shared that her organisation has been undergoing restructuring since the end of 2024. Several employees have since left, but instead of replacing them, the company has implemented a headcount freeze.

As a result, she said the remaining staff are being redeployed across teams to plug gaps, with job scopes changing frequently due to internal movements and mergers.

She added that this has created what feels like an unspoken expectation within the organisation, where employees are expected to accept shifting roles and responsibilities or “eventually leave if they are unhappy.”

While no one has been explicitly terminated, she said the overall environment increasingly feels as though it is “pushing people out” over time, although she acknowledged this is based on her own observation.

Seeking clarity, she asked others, particularly HR professionals, whether such practices are becoming more common in Singapore’s workplaces.

“Is this something that’s becoming common in Singapore now? Would love to hear if others are seeing similar trends in their companies, and especially perspectives from HR professionals.”

“Reorganisations happen all the time.”

The post has since sparked discussion, with several commenters saying they’ve seen this horrible scenario play out in their workplaces as well.

One shared, “Since you already know, why ask? My last employer even went to the extent of scolding me when I worked hard and telling me to get out the door. He also wanted to exclude me as the only one from the increment exercise. Initially, I still worked hard and stayed positive despite the restructuring. When I realised his treatment was meant to force me to quit, the switch flipped.”

Some commenters also said such practices are very common in other countries, particularly in the US.

One wrote, “It’s becoming more common globally, not just in Singapore, especially during cost-cutting phases. Companies avoid formal layoffs but still reduce headcount indirectly.”

Another commented, “Very common. In US companies, it’s so common to see your colleague in the office in the morning and gone after lunch. No warning. Immediate return of pass and laptop, they give you severance and make you sign an NDA. Don’t even have a chance to say goodbye.”

“For remote team members, they invite you into a call, and within the next hour, a dispatch is sent to your residential address to collect your laptop. Some sales members have it the worst. They are ‘sent’ overseas for a business trip and get fired there, so the bosses don’t have to deal with them in person after that.”

Contrarily, a few users disagreed, with one stating that “there is no such thing as quiet firing. It’s just youth slang for absolutely normal things, just to give normal things youth slang for no reason. Reorganisations happen all the time. You either deal with it or leave. It’s really that simple.”

Quiet firing

The term “quiet firing” first gained traction in 2022 when social media influencer DeAndre Brown mentioned it in a viral 42-second post.

Unlike traditional layoffs, in quiet firing, managers are not direct and instead rely on a more passive-aggressive approach to push employees out.

They may reduce employees’ responsibilities, skip them over for promotions or raises, or simply disregard or overlook their ideas. The point is to make them feel “unwanted” or “undervalued” in the company, so that they will walk out the door on their own.

Since the term became widely known, more and more employees have shared online that they have been victims of such practices.

In a 2022 LinkedIn News poll, 83% of respondents said they had either personally experienced quiet firing or witnessed it in their workplace.

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