Flexible work becomes the new cost-cutting weapon for Singapore firms

SINGAPORE: According to the latest report of the International Workplace Group (IWG), over half of Singapore’s businesses have made the moves to cut costs, and many of them – their number increasing – have turned to flexible work measures as a strategy to manage growing expenditures.

The study found that 51% of local firms have rolled out cost-saving measures, while 30% plan to adopt more flexible working models in the near future. Flexible work is rapidly becoming the norm: by 2025, 81% of organisations in Singapore are expected to offer some form of flexible work.

This move comes against an environment of stable economic development, with Singapore’s GDP expected to increase by 4.8%. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has urged businesses to “rethink, reset and refresh” their strategies to stay competitive, IWG noted.

Rising manpower and rental costs are among the key pressures driving change, prompting companies to explore technology and workplace flexibility as major ways to save.

According to IWG, espousing and implementing AI can diminish operational outlays by 20–40%, while flexible work arrangements can rip real estate overheads by up to 55%. SMEs that espoused AI-powered solutions through the Productivity Solutions Grant reported an regular savings of 52%.

Flexible work is also restructuring team forces at work. Some 83% of CEOs now permit workers to work from various sites, identifying benefits such as quicker travels (43%), access to an extensive talent pool, employee partiality, efficiency advantages, and lower-cost settings (each 37%).

These movements are altering office approaches for 2026. More than half of CEOs (56%) have opted for shorter-term occupancy agreements, while 54% aim to make use of co-working spaces or membership systems, echoing an increasing importance on dexterity and cost productivity in the workplace.