Company announces layoffs during CNY: Employee calls it 'insensitive', MOM says this should be avoided
A company announcing retrenchments during Chinese New Year was "insensitive", said one of its employees.
Stomper Uncle said his employer, Sabre Asia Pacific, made the announcement on Feb 18, the second day of Chinese New Year and start of Ramadan.
Sabre is a US-based travel technology company listed on the Nasdaq with a presence in Singapore since 1997. It opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Paya Lebar in 2019.
According to its latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Sabre had 4,650 employees worldwide with 1,319 in Asia-Pacific as of the end of 2025.
Uncle said there were more than 100 Sabre employees in Singapore, occupying the entire fifth floor at PLQ 2.
The Stomper said they were told that 90 per cent of the affected staff would be notified by Feb 20.
"I don't have any information about how many are affected, but so far, I have six colleagues who I know are affected."
When asked whether Stomp could interview them, Uncle said they were "still digesting this and not feeling good to be interviewed".
For the remaining 10 per cent of those affected, the layoffs would take place during the year.
"It means we are all worried about our jobs for the rest of 2026," lamented Uncle. "It's very insensitive to announce such news during the festive season."
When contacted by Stomp, a spokesperson for Sabre said: "We are always evaluating how to best align our resources to support our strategy and momentum, and we plan to keep our expenses relatively flat over the next couple of years.
"While we don't comment on specific personnel matters, any decisions we make are guided by our commitment to strengthening our business for the future and delivering ongoing value to our partners."
The spokesperson added Sabre will be adding engineering resources and have more engineers in a year.
"Our 2026 and 2027 outlook reflects an inflation offset program and an emphasis on operating efficiently, including the use of AI to enhance our internal productivity."
In response to a Stomp query, Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU) secretary-general Andy Lim said: "While retrenchments may be inevitable, they should only be used as a last resort."
He said Sabre Asia Pacific had informed the union of a workforce restructuring exercise affecting its Singapore office.
"This is part of a broader organisational realignment aimed at strengthening its long-term sustainability," added Mr Lim.
"SMMWU has been engaging the company closely to ensure that affected workers are treated fairly and in accordance with the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment."
He said that the union, which is affiliated with the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), has also worked with Sabre to confirm that affected workers will receive a fair severance package.
A Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesperson told Stomp that the ministry is aware of the retrenchments at Sabre.
The Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation — which consists of MOM, Workforce Singapore (WSG), NTUC and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) — is working closely with Sabre to support affected employees.
"This includes working with Sabre to provide job matching support and career coaching for these employees," said the spokesperson.
Sabre's Singapore staff members are not the only ones affected by the restructuring as its employees around the globe have also posted online about losing their jobs.
The Stomper said he wished the company had delayed the announcement of the layoffs until after CNY.
"The management chose to announce promotions for senior executive positions at the same time, which was very insensitive," said Uncle.
Sabre had announced the promotions of five top executives, including its chief operating officer and chief people officer, on the same day.
The MOM spokesperson told Stomp: "Where retrenchments are inevitable, we encourage companies to do so sensitively — this includes considering the timing and impact of the announcement, and avoiding festive periods if possible."
During the parliamentary debate on MOM's budget on March 3, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said his ministry will review suggestions by MPs to make advance retrenchment notifications mandatory as part of a broader look at the Employment Act, reported The Straits Times.
National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay had proposed that the notice be done prior to retrenchment so that early support for the affected workers can be activated, such as career coaching, job-matching, redeployment and, where possible, alternatives to retrenchment itself.
"Early notification enables early intervention, and early intervention saves jobs," said Mr Tay.
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