On Thursday (19 November), The Straits Times reported that some selected employees of ST Engineering have been offered the option of “early release” by the government-linked company.
A spokesman from ST Engineering said the early release option was offered to the “select employees” through a “mutually agreed separation scheme” in the third quarter of this year.
“That was not a retrenchment exercise. Employees who did not accept the scheme were redeployed,” the spokesman told The Straits Times.
However, the company did not disclose the number of employees who have been offered the scheme, or the number of those who accepted the offer.
It was reported that ST Engineering has employed about 23,000 employees worldwide.
The spokesman hinted that the company has taken cost-saving measures to ensure its viability amid the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
These measures include deferment of discretionary capital expenditure, tightening of operating expenditure, staff and staff-related expenses, and cuts in promotional expenses.
Meanwhile, ST Engineering stated on Wednesday (18 Nov) that its full-year revenue for FY2020 is expected to fall by 10 per cent as compared to FY2019.
Netizens say ST Engineering’s redeployment exercise is a retrenchment in disguise
Penning their thoughts in the comment section of The Straits Times’ Facebook post on the matter, a handful of netizens questioned if ST Engineering is just using a different scheme as a way to retrench its workers. 
Some netizens noted that the company implements redeployment exercise to avoid paying retrenchment benefits.
