Dyson conducted a round of layoffs in Singapore on October 1 in a “surprise” move that has left employees feeling shocked and in a state of “low morale”. This comes about three months after the technology firm said Singapore, which serves as its global head office, was “not directly impacted” by a global restructuring that involved about 1,000 job cuts in Britain.
The retrenchment exercise on Tuesday was done “very discreetly”, with those impacted receiving an email notifying them of a “one-on-one” meeting, said an employee who was laid off on Tuesday and spoke on condition of anonymity. Those laid off were from the manufacturing and procurement departments, said another employee who also spoke to CNA anonymously. Both are unsure how many employees were let go on Tuesday. Dyson had previously conducted a round of layoffs in Johor Bahru where it has a development centre, one of the employees said. But Tuesday’s retrenchment exercise in Singapore was unexpected, given how the firm had announced it was stepping up investments in the Republic.
Workers in Dyson’s Singapore office are worried that Tuesday’s round of layoffs is not the last, said the employee who spoke to CNA on condition of anonymity, citing how the July retrenchments in Britain were done “department by department and over a few weeks”. In response to queries from CNA, a Dyson spokesperson said: “We constantly evolve the composition of our teams and take steps to ensure we have the right skills in the right places. Our ambitions in Singapore remain unchanged, and we anticipate that we will continue to grow here in the medium term.” The company did not answer other questions about how many employees were laid off on Tuesday, the type of job roles that were made redundant and why, as well as how the company is assisting those affected.
CNA
