GovTech retrenches 93 employees amid product-led transformation

Singapore's Government Technology Agency (GovTech) has retrenched 93 employees as part of a wider organisational restructuring that is expected to affect between 7% and 9% of its workforce over the next two years.

The restructuring is aimed at transforming GovTech from an organisation that primarily manages projects delivered by external vendors into one that builds and operates technology products in-house. 

In a note to staff, GovTech chairman Chng Kai Fong reportedly said the exercise is not an AI-driven downsizing exercise, adding that the shift towards a product-led operating model began years before the current wave of AI adoption.

He also said GovTech expects to have a larger workforce at the end of the transition, noting that the agency is changing shape, not shrinking.

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According to The Straits Times, more than two-thirds of employees identified in the first phase of the restructuring have either remained in their current positions or will be retrained for new roles. Of those affected in the first phase, 102 employees were retained, 110 entered apprenticeship programmes to reskill, while the remaining 93 were retrenched.

The restructuring will reportedly be rolled out in three phases over the next two years. The first phase affects six forward deployed teams embedded across government agencies, as well as one central function. Staff in project delivery and vendor management roles are reportedly among those impacted.

Furthermore, employees who are retrenched will receive one month's salary for every year of service, capped at 25 years, alongside a three-month ex gratia payment and salary and benefits during a six-week notice and handover period. They will also receive career guidance and support for redeployment opportunities within the public service and the private sector, reported The Straits Times.

The restructuring follows efforts to redeploy and retrain employees whose roles are no longer aligned with GovTech's future operating model. The agency is reportedly introducing apprenticeship and structured retraining programmes to help staff transition into product ownership and related technology roles.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to GovTech for a statement.

GovTech's restructuring comes as organisations across the technology sector continue to reshape their operating models to improve agility and build new capabilities. Earlier this year, TikTok said it was reorganising its global trust and safety operations by centralising parts of its workforce into key operating hubs, while Shopee reportedly cut hundreds of developer roles globally as Sea accelerated its AI-focused transformation and AI-native operating model.

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