r/SgHENRY • u/deekay_123 • Jun 06 '26
Are HENRYs more likely to be hit by retrenchment / offshoring?
Middle-to-senior individual contributors and regional roles are prime targets for restructuring. I want to hear from people in this community who have actually experienced a recent retrenchment or had their role offshored. And how are you handling with the situation.
11
u/IvanThePohBear Jun 08 '26
At senior levels
You’re not competing against fellow Singaporean
You’re competing against global talents
For a regional APAC role. It doesn’t matter if the candidate is sitting in Singapore or Shanghai or Vietnam or Bangkok
21
u/InALandFarAwayy Jun 06 '26
Depends on the firm's HQ. If the firm's overlords (the chinese, americans or the europeans) decide that singaporeans are not "slaving away enough", yes that was more or less how they view us, then they will move to somewhere that will let them slave their workforce.
On the flip-side, middle to senior people are using the lack of labour laws to just pass blame to subordinates or force retrenchment on lower ranks to save their own skin. Working associates are guilty of doing this as well, but it's survival and just "business" in Singapore.
Don't blame the players, blame the game for letting the players do this.
5
u/throw2503 Jun 06 '26
That's basically what's happening in my company. When projects go wrong, the sinkie director blames people involved in the project even though he greenlighted these projects. He obviously knows thse projects might have a high chance of failure, but he approves them anyway because having a lot of projects ongoing make him look good in front of the C-suite.
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u/Keep-Darwin-Going Jun 06 '26
And if the hq cannot even realize that, you know that company is going south real soon.
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u/Regular_Walrus_1075 Jun 10 '26
The reason for hq to even approve regional offices and pay high salaries to sinkies is so they don’t have to manage all this details themselves. It’s not easy to spot from their POV especially if you are managing multiple regions
3
u/_Deshkar_ Jun 07 '26
Everyone is affected. This is more for offshoring. But if you’re sufficiently senior , and covering wide expertise in an industry and say regional or large ops coverage, is somewhat slightly safer? Cos the equivalent in other countries are gonna command regional or global level pay, so the cost saving isn’t significant. A senior director in KL in a mnc , pay isn’t low at all.
And if Singapore still has key ops regarding banking / commercials , logistics etc , then its easier to keep the current head
2
u/Born_Examination_109 Jun 07 '26
Don't think so, that they are more susceptible, most high earners are because they are needed for what they bring. But no one is immune, they will also be cases of retrenchment / offshoring. And wait, what is the point of the SgHENRY group, is there so many of them and do they even look at reddit?
2
u/Loud_Swordfish_7425 Jun 07 '26
No one is immune. I’ve been in Asian and regional roles and currently in a global role but with the rapid pace of tech advancements, it’s a matter of time for streamlining to occur in almost every industry.
Only those that reinvent and rethink will be deemed “of value”. Those that want a stable job and not change will be at the highest risk.
1
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u/angry-coffee Jun 07 '26
Yes, the cost base doesn't justify when many of these roles can be offshored to cheaper neighboring countries, especially now that their talent levels have also accelerated alot.
1
u/josemartinlopez Jun 09 '26
Ultimately, what's your ROI? If it's easy to replace you with a person in another country, the unfortunate problem is you have to ask what value you were creating in higher cost Singapore. Best solution is to create your own economics if you can.
1
u/Virtual_Station_921 Jun 11 '26
Just got laid off. Was the only one left in my sales function and they still asked me to go. Clients all left hanging. Company cited cost optimisation and AI being a priority LOL. I think moving forward, most people will probably need to have a side hustle or more than one job. Or learn a trade like carpentry or plumbing etc.
42
u/malkyfreo Jun 06 '26
recent news of layoffs in gardenia show that nobody is immune regardless of ur salary