Last week, news broke that Agoda was retrenching employees in customer support roles as part of a global restructuring exercise. About 50 of the roles were Singapore-based.
While retrenchments are never welcomed news, whether you are a business, employee or country, they do happen. And they happen quite often and is tracked by MOM. According to MOM’s latest 2Q 2025 Labour Market Report, 3,540 employees were retrenched in the 2nd quarter of 2025.
What made this case hit the headlines is that Agoda allegedly asked employees not report the incident to any government agencies, statutory boards or trade unions, including MOM, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) and TAFEP.
Based on wordings that we’ve seen online, there was also a threat that those who made reports would have their severance entitlement revoked, and for those who already received the severance payments from Agoda would have to repay the company.
Read Also: Retrenchment Benefits For Jetstar Asia’s Employees After It Shuts Down
“Counter To The Spirit Of Fair And Responsible Employment Practices In Singapore”
In a press release on 19 September, Agoda admitted that it was “inappropriate for employers to include provisions that discourage or inhibit employees from approaching the authorities”.
They have since held meetings with MOM, NTUC, Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP), and the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) to discuss and address the concerns raised over our severance agreements.
However, their statement came after NTUC had released its own statement, on 17 September, “condemning” Agoda for the way it conducted the retrenchment of 50 local employees.
It also carried other serious language, including that NTUC was “appalled” that Agoda had warned affected workers against making any reports to the Government or trade unions.
Not Just About Fairness, It’s Against The Law
Under Singapore’s Employment Act, employers that have at least 10 employees must submit a Mandatory Retrenchment Notification to MOM within five working days after the employee has been notified of his retrenchment.
Clearly, Agoda was not intending for this to happen.
In NTUC’s statement, they also reiterated that even employers that are downsizing their teams should abide by the terms laid out in the TRIPARTITE ADVISORY ON MANAGING EXCESS MANPOWER AND RESPONSIBLE RETRENCHMENT.
This includes a checklist of 10 things employers should consider:
#1 Does the business situation warrant a retrenchment?
#2 Did the company tap on government support, put in effort to reskill and deploy employees where possible, before embarking on a retrenchment exercise?
#3 Did the company implement other alternatives before embarking on a retrenchment exercise? Examples include, but are not limited to: flexible work schedule, shorter work-week, no-pay leave.
#4 Did the company use objective criteria to identify employees to be retrenched and that the criteria used do not discriminate against any employee on the basis of age, race, gender, religion, marital status and family responsibility, or disability?
#5 Did the company ensure that the proportion of local employees is not lower, after retrenchment?
#6 If company is unionised, were the selection criteria and □ Yes retrenchment benefit discussed and agreed to with the union?
#7 Did the company communicate its business situation and retrenchment plans clearly and in a sensitive manner with compassion to employees?
#8 Did the company adhere to the notice period for retrenchment in accordance with the employment contract, collective agreement, or the Employment Act?
#9 Did the company provide retrenchment benefit in accordance with Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment? (This is for the eligibility and quantum of retrenchment benefits)
#10 Did the company put in place measures to support the affected employees to move on to new jobs, e.g. engaging WSG or e2i for employment facilitation?
Read Also: MOM Responsible Retrenchments – Guideline For Companies To Be Fair And Decent
Lose-Lose-Lose Outcome
While Agoda’s press release was an admission to the situation and carried an apology, it is a deeply concerning situation. It is quite shocking that Agoda may have thought that this was the right way to go about retrenching employees. They are in a scary situation, losing their jobs.
Firstly, this shows that such situations do happen. It is worrying if there have been other such retrenchments where employees may have been hushed.
Agoda’s press statement mentioned that their retrenchment exercise ran counter to the spirit of fair and responsible employment practices in Singapore. We may be reading too much into it, but it seems strange to include “Singapore” in the statement.
In another part of the statement, it again stated that it is “fully supportive of the spirit of the tripartite employment practices Singapore is known for”. Again, Singapore is mentioned.
Singapore’s strong employee’s rights should not be seen as a potential issue for employers performing unfair retrenchment exercises.
It is also frightening to think that companies may be “smarter” with how they go about retrenching employees if they do not want the authorities informed.
Overall, the situation felt like a loss for employees, who could have been better supported. If unreported, they may not have gained financial support through the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme, providing up to $6,000 in additional support for retrenched employees finding another job.
Although Agoda is not a unionised company, those retrenched are also being supported by NTUC and Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU). They would not have been if the retrenchment had not been known.
It was also a loss for Agoda, because of the awful PR they have generated. And a loss for Singapore? Because it has potentially been framed as having strong employment rights for employees.
Read Also: Guide To Understanding The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme
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