It’s no secret that the Singapore economy has been hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. And no it’s not just retailers and businesses like restaurants.
Lest you’re unaware, restaurants had to request for lower rental cost as they had anticipated a whopping 80% drop in revenue amidst the virus situation.
It looks like even SingPost isn’t faring well either:
SingPost Will Cut & Freeze Upper Management’s Pay
Singapore Post (SingPost) has implemented a hiring freeze and will also be reducing the pay of some of its upper-level management employees beginning April.
The good news is that these measures are only temporary.
The measures were announced by the company’s group chief executive officer Paul Coutts in an internal message to staff on Wednesday in order to offset the impact of the virus outbreak.
Mr Coutts explained that since the Government and leading businesses also implemented internal company policies to offset the impact of the outbreak, SingPost should do it too.
SingPost will also put into place measures during this uncertain and challenging environment “in a show of solidarity”.
When It’ll Take Into Effect
The hiring freeze will be set in motion and will be applied across the entire organisation (except for essential roles) from Wednesday.
The pay reduction, on the other hand, will begin on 1 April. All employees who are senior vice-presidents and above at SingPost will have their pay reduced by 5%.
Individuals who are ranked assistant vice-president and above will also have their pay and promotion increments frozen.
Wait, what about our dear Mr Postman? What will happen to him?
The good news is that staff who are ranked senior manager and below will not be affected by the new measures.
Essentially, this pay reduction will only affect the big shots.
Mr Coutts appealed for the support of the staff, citing the prospect of a weaker economic outlook.
“We seek your support as we tighten operations and practise prudence in our spending against the backdrop of a weaker economic outlook. Our growth plans for the future of SingPost will not be affected and I cannot wait to share more on the next phase of our strategy once we turn the tide against the epidemic.”
Not The Only “Leading Business” To Do Something Like This
State investor Temasek Holdings also implemented a salary freeze which will affect all of its employees for its April compensation exercise.
This will also include promotion increases.
The senior management team which includes managing directors and those above can take a voluntary base salary reduction of up to 5% for a period of up to one year, according to the company’s statement.
A year is no joke.
SMRT Is Also Cutting Some Of Its Employees Pay By Up To 5%
It’s not just SingPost and Temasek. SMRT is doing it too, which makes me think of the term “times are bad”.
Like Temasek Holdings, SMRT’s pay cut will only affect the management staff.
The SMRT CEO said, “In light of the challenging situation arising from the Covid-19 outbreak, SMRT is implementing a salary reduction of up to 5% and a 0.5-month reduction in bonus for its management staff this year.”
So no, again this will not affect those who are on the ground, including SMRT bus drivers.
SMRT Taxis Helping Its Drivers
In fact, their taxi arm, SMRT Taxis is providing an addition $2.5 million in rental rebates on top of grants by the government to taxi and PHV firms.
This will mean that drivers will get an additional $15 daily rental rebate until March, $10 in April and $5 in May. And take note that this amount is on top of the $20 daily rental rebate that’s being provided by the Government.
Let’s hope that the situation improves for everyone. In the meantime, don’t forget to practice good personal hygiene and visit a health professional if you’re feeling unwell.
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