GovTech retrenches 93 staff amid 2-year workforce shift

Singapore’s Government Technology Agency has laid off 93 employees in the first phase of a two-year restructuring that is expected to affect 7% to 9% of its roughly 3,900-strong workforce.

GovTech said the phased approach would minimize disruption to public services while giving affected employees more time and support to transition.

Singapore is home to over 2,000 family offices making it the second top destination of high net worth families worldwide. / Photo credit: [Majonit] / Shutterstock

The first phase of the restructuring affected 302 employees across GovTech’s headquarters and six public agencies. Of those, 102 will remain in their current roles, 110 will be retrained through apprenticeship programs, and 93 will leave the agency with what GovTech described as a comprehensive support package.

In an internal memo released to the media, GovTech chairman Chng Kai Fong said the restructuring was not driven by AI but by a shift in the agency’s operating model.

As GovTech takes greater ownership of building and operating digital products, rather than relying on external vendors, it needs to strengthen its in-house engineering capabilities, Chng said.

While vendors can deliver many systems effectively, he argued that critical national systems increasingly require internal teams that can respond quickly to changing needs.

That said, Chng shares that GovTech expects to employ more people at the end of its transformation than it currently does.

Photo credit: The Straits Times

“GovTech is changing shape, not shrinking,” he adds. “It will be a different GovTech, and not every current role maps onto it.”

The agency’s press statement indicates that it has already redeployed and converted “a substantial number of officers” into new roles and will continue to internally redeploy as many of its officers as possible.

For employees in project and vendor management roles that are affected, GovTech says it is offering full-salary apprenticeships and structured retraining programs that combine technical and on-the-job training.

This will allow them to transition into product ownership and related capabilities, according to the agency.