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I'm sure some bro's company is going thru the abv mentioned exersice. After working 12+yrs in my current company, finally I may be on the chopping board soon. Just wondering, if being retrenched, is it compulsory for a company to give out payout, golden handshake, 1mth/1year and so on? Can a company just terminate you and pay you 1 mth and ask you to fly kite? Big MNC might have to cash to so call retrench you but how about smaller company? If they don't have the cash, probably they'll find a way to terminate you or even fire you.

Dear Employees: Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown in the economy, Management has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 40 years and above on early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early). Persons selected to be RAPED can apply to management to be considered for SHAFT scheme (Special Help After Forced Termination). Persons who have been RAPED and SHAFTED will be reviewed under the SCREW program (Scheme Covering Retired-Early Workers). A person may be RAPED once, SHAFTED twice and SCREWED as many times as Management deems appropriate. Persons who have been RAPED could get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependants & Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance). Obviously persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTED or SCREWED any further by Management. Persons who are not RAPED and are staying on will receive as much s--t (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Management has always prided itself on the amount of s--t it gives employees. Should you feel you do not receive enough s--t, please bring this to the attention of your Supervisor, who has been trained to give you all the s--t you can handle. Sincerely, Management PS: Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current market conditions, the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.

Has retrenchment already taken place or is your company freezing headcount at the moment?

https://content.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/singapore-employment-salary-2023-outlook-industries/ Our job market may look healthy, but there are headwinds on the horizon for Singaporean employees and jobseekers. Without sugar-coating it, there are three significant headwinds affecting Singapore’s job market outlook. The global economic downturn where the cyclical changes will reduce employment opportunities. The ongoing pandemic crisis is still uncertain in its trajectory and may linger on for some time. Technological disruptions, particularly digitalisation, will continue to induce structural changes that make jobs and skills redundant. That said, it’s not entirely all doom and gloom for local employees and jobseekers, though there are indicators that Singapore’s labour market is slowing down with economic growth numbers. According to figures released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in November 2022, Singapore’s economic growth is expected to slow to 0.5 to 2.5% in 2023, due to global uncertainties, down from the projected 3.5% growth in 2022. Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower revealed in an October 2022 report: “In the coming months, a deteriorating global economic environment, higher global inflation, as well as geopolitical tensions could affect the labour market outlook. “Some unevenness in employment growth may emerge across sectors”, they elaborated. On the numbers front, there was a “slight uptick” in unemployment rates, and a rise in retrenchments, though both remained on par with pre-Covid levels. What’s the big picture that affects Singapore’s job market outlook? Arturo Bris, Professor of Finance and Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre Switzerland, shared his take with Workipedia by MyCareersFuture: “From the economic standpoint, there are two main uncertainties. “The first one is the global economic crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine and the disruption of global supply chains. “Its effects on inflation and growth are heard everywhere, including Singapore. As an economy that relies on foreign trade, it is extremely sensitive. “The second uncertainty pertains to China and the negative worrying signals from the Asian giant. In particular, there are concerns about the growth prospects of China and its preference to grow its domestic market instead of relying on neighbouring countries.” Which Singapore hiring industries could see headwinds in 2023? In fact, according to a Business Times report, Maybank analyst Chua Hak Bin noted that many sectors, such as hospitality, construction and healthcare, are still experiencing acute labour shortages. For Singaporean workers, recent employment number gains came from industries such as information and communications, professional services, and financial services. However, the MOM report states that administrative and support services saw a sustained decline, “partly reflecting the gradual scale-back of Covid-related occupations”. MTI also reported that weaker economic sentiments would weigh on the growth of outward-oriented sectors in Singapore, such as our electronics and chemicals clusters. That said, the ministry expects that Singapore’s strong recovery in air travel and international visitor arrivals will continue to benefit sectors related to aviation and tourism. This includes air transport, arts, entertainment and recreation, and consumer-facing sectors like food and beverage services. Lifting of travel restrictions in Singapore and the region has also boosted the recovery of the professional services sector. Professor Lawrence Loh, from NUS Business Schools’ Department of Strategy and Policy, said to Workipedia by MyCareersFuture: “In view of the international economic outlook, particular industries in Singapore like manufacturing and financial services will be significantly challenged due to weaker demands in 2023. “While industries affected by the pandemic such as aviation and travel have been recovering, these have to be continually on the alert for any unexpected new twist in the situation. “Moving into next year, as always, technology will almost always have impacts on organisational structures and products, as well as individual jobs and skills.” “This will happen across a broad spectrum of industries, particularly those that are manually driven such as retail, hospitality and even financial services.” What about 2023 salaries, then? 2023 looks to be a mixed bag when it comes to salaries, according to Mercer’s recently released Total Renumeration Survey (TRS). The flagship annual compensation and benefits benchmarking study identifies key remuneration trends and predictions for hiring and pay for 2023. Over 1000 Singapore-based companies participated in this year’s survey. While local employers anticipate salary increases in 2023 to surpass pre-pandemic levels, inflation is also depressing sentiment, with more than half of the companies in Singapore (54%) adopting a wait-and-see approach to their salary budgets. “Employers remain cautious about bumping up wages to match inflation,” said Mansi Sabharwal, Reward Products Leader at Mercer Singapore. “And many are turning to less permanent solutions such as benchmarking competition to stay competitive in the market (70%), focusing on total rewards communication (69%) and increasing wages of lower-income employees (55%).” Some other key findings from Mercer’s report on salaries revealed which industries could have the highest salary increments as below: Logistics: (4.4%) Banking and Finance (4.27%) Tech (4.06%) Real Estate (3.25%) The aerospace industry is also forecasted to see improvement, with salary increments expected to rise from 3.09% to 3.52% in 2023, given global travel continues to gain momentum in the aftermath of Covid-19. Working in an industry that might slow down? Here’s some advice Associate Prof. Trevor Yu, from the College of Business’ (Nanyang Business School) Division of Leadership, Management & Organisation, shared the below advice: Take a proactive look at your current skill set and project what areas you need to develop and upskill in the next few years. Consider also whether it is time to explore other options in faster-growing sectors like those listed above and what steps are needed to reskill for possible career changes and transitions. Finally, how much meaning do you derive from your current job role? Do you feel engaged both physically and psychologically? What steps can you take to craft or negotiate a better situation at work so that you can give the best that your talent can offer? Prof. Loh concludes: “There are two perennial challenges for jobs – creations and displacements – both of which will be critically influenced by the job market headwinds. “For organisations, especially those more vulnerable to the headwinds, continued transformation is the way forward – it is key to constantly adapt, innovate and strive for resilience. “As such, no skill will remain relevant forever – in fact, the shelf life for skills is getting shorter and shorter. “For workers at all levels, capability development is the surest solution – it is imperative to always upskill and reskill!”

https://fortune.com/2023/01/20/alphabet-layoffs-google-sundar-pichai-takes-full-responsibility-in-email-to-staff/ Google parent Alphabet Inc. said it will cut about 12,000 jobs, more than 6% of its global workforce, becoming the latest tech giant to retrench after years of abundant growth and hiring. The cuts will affect jobs globally and across the entire company, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told employees in an email on Friday, writing that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.” With the layoffs, Google joins a host of other tech giants that have drastically scaled back operations amid a faltering global economy and soaring inflation. Meta Platforms Inc., Twitter Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have all slashed their ranks. Thanks to a resilient search business, Google has been one of the longest tech holdouts avoiding major workforce reductions. But the company is dealing with a slowdown in digital advertising and its cloud-computing division continues to trail Amazon and Microsoft Corp. “These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” Pichai wrote in the email. He said the company has a “substantial opportunity in front of us” with artificial intelligence, a key investment area where Google is facing a surge in recent competition. In October, the company reported earnings and revenue that missed analyst expectations. Profit declined 27% to $13.9 billion compared to the prior year. At the time, Pichai said Google would curb its expenses and Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said the number of new jobs would fall by more than half in the fourth quarter from the previous period. Google’s reduction in headcount follows investor pressure to adopt a more aggressive strategy to curb spending. In November, TCI Fund Management Ltd. urged the internet search giant in an open letter to publicly set a target for profit margins, increase share buybacks and reduce losses in its portfolio of Other Bets, Alphabet’s moonshot division. “The company has too many employees and the cost per employee is too high,” TCI Managing Director Chris Hohn said, noting that Alphabet’s headcount had swelled 20% per year since 2017. According to the human-resources consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the most job cuts in 2022 were in the tech sector — 97,171 for the year, up 649% compared to the previous year. Google has made a series of cost-cutting moves in recent months, canceling the next generation of its Pixelbook laptop and permanently shuttering Stadia, its cloud gaming service. Earlier in January, Verily, a biotech unit of Alphabet, said it was cutting 15% of its staff. Pichai said Alphabet would be paying affected employees 16 weeks of severance and six months worth of health benefits in the US, with other regions receiving packages based on local laws and practices.

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/shopee-cuts-singapore-jobs-in-regional-layoffs-says-affected-staff-will-get-appropriate-compensation-packages SINGAPORE - Employees affected by e-commerce platform Shopee's latest round of job cuts will be given "appropriate compensation packages" in line with market norms, the firm said in a joint statement with the Creative Media and Publishing Union (CMPU) on Monday. This comes as some staff in Singapore were informed that they were part of further layoffs on Monday. The Straits Times understands that a low single-digit percentage of Shopee workers are affected, although it is not clear how many of the platform's regional markets will be hit in this latest cost-cutting exercise. Shopee's layoffs include employees in human resources, regional operations, marketing, and product and engineering, The Business Times reported on Monday. It also cited sources saying that some workers, including those in Singapore and China, began receiving e-mail notices of their layoffs shortly after department-wide town halls on Monday. Shopee, the e-commerce arm of New York Stock Exchange-listed Sea, had earlier this year cut workers in its ShopeeFood and ShopeePay teams in the region. Its parent company has been undertaking extensive cost-cutting measures in recent months, with questions over its money-making prospects intensifying amid the challenging global environment and widespread decline in technology stocks. Maybe they shouldn't have splurged on such extravagance. 😶

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-cut-thousands-jobs-sky-news-2023-01-17/ Jan 17 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) plans to cut thousands of jobs with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions, according to media reports on Tuesday. The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook. Microsoft's move could indicate that the tech sector may continue to shed jobs. "From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen," Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said. U.K broadcaster Sky News reported, citing sources, that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles. The company plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, according to a person familiar with the matter, while Insider reported that Microsoft could cut recruiting staff by as much as one-third. The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said. Microsoft declined to comment on the reports. The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings. Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales. It had said in July last year that a small number of roles had been eliminated. In October, news site Axios reported that Microsoft had laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions. Shares of Microsoft, which is set to report quarterly results on Jan. 24, were marginally higher in late afternoon trading.

McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski recently sent a letter to employees around the world saying the company will roll out cost-cutting programs, launch a massive restructuring, eliminate some jobs and lay off staff.

This 53 yo guy graduated from NUS Engineering course. Early every morning, he goes to the rubbish dump to scavenge for stuff. In 1993, he had a high flying job with a big company but he was retrenched in 2007. This gave him a big psychological shock. Although his company gave him a recommendation letter, he feels his reputation is tarnished and cannot find a job easily. Since retrenchment, his outlook on life has also changed and attention has shifted from career to family. He has 4 daughters aged between 5 to 9 and an elderly mother at home.

Shell to cut jobs and capacity at major Singapore refinery https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-shell-singapore/shell-to-cut-jobs-capacity-at-singapore-oil-refinery-its-largest-globally-idUKKBN27Q16H

Saw this on and thought maybe good to share in troubled times although openings are limitrd. Not sure if this is only for West Coast residents but I think not? There's also openings for Shengsiong for those who say they want to join SS in the other thread. Here's your chance lor. Good luck to all the bros who need help. God bless. Please find out more info first before going down if not wasted trip https://mustsharenews.com/boon-lay-job-fair/ 1,200 job openings at Boon Lay job fair The event will offer more than 1,200 job opportunities for attendees from 8 companies. Here’s a list of some of the participating companies and their job opportunities. Air Tech Engineering & Consultancy - Building Technician Cleaning Express -Cleaners -Gardeners -Pest Control Technicians Faxolif Industries -Production Operators Watson’s Personal Care Stores -Customer Assistant -Customer Supervisor Imperial Ink -Lab Technician -Production Operator -Sales Executive -Sales Manager Sheng Siong Group -Food Processing Worker (Butcher) -Cashier -Packer (Fruit / Grocery / Vegetable / Frozen) -Food Processing Worker (Seafood) -Internal Driver (HQ Warehouse) -Packer (Frozen for HQ Warehouse) Boon Lay Job Fair Address: 10 Boon Lay Place, S649882 Date: 18 Jul 2020 Time: 10.00am-3.00pm Nearest MRT: Lakeside MRT station

I have heard friends around me getting pay cuts or retrenched. Anyone of you had similar experience. What if company retrench us during this period?

I know some people who got retrenched (and get some retrenchment benefits). Then they start to look for job, but as time drags on still have not find job due to high expectation, 6 months or more liao still no job. Just want to know, if u r earning $XXXk a year, after losing job, will you rather take a long time to find another $XXXk job therefore suffering lost of income and eat into savings for extended periods, or will you settle for an immediately available but much lower pay job (say >30% paycut), and then in mean time while working continue to look for the high pay job? 2nd option pros is wont suffer as much lost of income and wont need to eat into savings for livelihood, but cons maybe become more difficult to go for interviews because need to work and new job under probation cannot take leave to go interviews. Which is the better option? Consider that person have some savings but he is not very rich.

Anyone got insider news?

now DFS retrench 60 employees looks like the Brotherhood grows again...,

What will be Singapore's most in-demand jobs for 2019. Good time to take stock on where the sunset industry is and which job to switch to. Just that there is no plotted map for someone to refer to in order to get there other then the security pathway. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/what-will-be-singapores-most-in-demand-jobs-for-2019 SINGAPORE - Singapore hiring is likely to see stable growth in 2019, with top jobs in demand to be analytical and data-driven in nature, according to the latest annual salary survey by recruitment firm Robert Walters. These include data scientists, product management, user experience (UX) designers, and digital roles, with cyber security to remain a major focus, in the wake of recent high-profile cyber attacks in Singapore. The report also found that job movers in Singapore can expect pay increments of 5 per cent to 15 per cent in 2019, and larger hikes can be expected for candidates with specialised skill sets in IT, digital and financial services. Among employers, human resource (HR) professionals with strong experience in HR technologies, as well as talent acquisition professionals for the technology sector will be sought after. Hiring levels for jobs in financial services will also remain positive, with a continued focus on technical and commercial skill sets. Demand will be high for skilled contracting professionals, trade finance professionals in corporate banking, investment and research analysts, and IT professionals in the financial services sector, said Robert Walters. In addition, sales and marketing professionals with big data, digital, e-commerce and transformation experience will be in increasing demand as companies continue their digitalisation efforts. With a limited talent pool, competition will intensify for specialists such as Singaporeans qualified with international and cross-border experience and knowledge in areas such as product management, technology law and blockchain, as well as supply chain and procurement professionals with niche skill sets. According to Robert Walters, the accounting and finance sector will see a demand for professionals with tax compliance and change management expertise, with skill sets in demand including a strong technical understanding and familiarity of regulatory rules, stakeholder engagement and management skills. In the engineering sector, more jobs are expected to emerge as oil and gas prices recover, said Robert Walters. Strong demand is anticipated for professionals in the semiconductor, medical devices, consumer electronics and manufacturing industries, especially in the research and development departments. "The best candidates look for roles they can grow into. Employers who can demonstrate that they have the right teams and systems in place to support a candidate's success in a role are better positioned to secure top talent," said Mr Rob Bryson, Robert Walters managing director for Singapore.

With reference to: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sph-starts-retrenching-staff I wonder if MCF will be impacted since the main cash cow is SGCARMART and not us. Will MCF be shut down or be sold-off?

The world economy is not doing well and there are reports everyday that expect the situation to worsen due to the European crisis. A quick check on the internet shows that a few companies have started/are starting their retrenchment exercise, e.g. HP and NOL. Have you heard of any other companies which are retrenching?

Long article below. The press conference after the address was interesting. Reporters asked whether Barra was aware of the design lapse since she was once Head of Safety (oops) and she dodged the question. WARREN, Mich.— General Motors Co. 's chief executive vowed to upend the corporate culture responsible for what she denounced as a "pattern of incompetence and neglect" in the auto maker's 11-year failure to recall cars equipped with a defective ignition switch. The scathing indictment by Mary Barra, a GM veteran who inherited the recall crisis shortly after she became CEO in January, coincided with the release of a company-funded report that could deepen GM's legal vulnerability and scrutiny from regulators, prosecutors and lawmakers. The 315-page report by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas concluded that information about the faulty ignition switches, which could abruptly slip from the "on" position, stall vehicles and disable their air bags, bounced around an "astonishing number of committees" inside GM. That led to a "troubling disavowal of responsibility" and devastating consequences, Mr. Valukas concluded. So far, GM has attributed at least 54 crashes and 13 deaths to switch-related air bag failures. GM President Dan Ammann didn't rule out the possibility that the death toll could climb. In the report, Ms. Barra was cited for a description of what she called the "GM Nod," or meetings where participants appeared to nod in agreement that action should be taken, then did nothing. Another official invoked the "GM Salute," or crossing arms and pointing toward other employees to indicate that "responsibility belongs to someone else, not me," the report said. In a meeting Thursday morning with GM employees at the company's technical center here, the 52-year-old Ms. Barra tried to position the report as a defining moment in a new effort to transform the auto maker's management after decades of dysfunction. She claimed responsibility for fixing problems still entrenched after the company's bankruptcy and 30 years of similar crusades by predecessors. "We will accept responsibility for our mistakes, and we will do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again," she said. Ms. Barra promised to expand an overhaul of GM's product-development organization and legal department to make sure that information about safety problems doesn't get bottled up in "silos." As expected, the report exonerated the CEO, executives who report directly to her and the company's board of directors. Fifteen employees have been dismissed from GM because of misconduct or failure to respond properly as evidence of the ignition switch's defects mounted, Ms. Barra said. More than half of those officials were executives, and Ms. Barra said five other GM employees have been disciplined but remain with the company. Ms. Barra wouldn't identify the employees by name, except to confirm that two low-ranking engineers involved with the design of the defective switch were dismissed. Also fired were lawyers and officials responsible for safety and dealings with regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. The internal report was especially critical of one of the fired engineers, Raymond DeGiorgio, who approved the initial ignition-switch design in 2001 even though he knew it failed to meet GM's standards, the report said. After problems surfaced, Mr. DeGiorgio tweaked the design but told no one about the change and didn't assign a new part number to the switch, which might have alerted GM to the problems, the report concluded. In a statement, General Motors CEO Mary Barra discusses the lack of accountability and responsibility in the problems the automaker experienced with faulty ignition switches in some of its vehicles. 15 GM employees were fired as a result of the investigation. General Motors fired 15 people, most in senior roles, amid its probe over defective ignition switches. Its investigation found a "pattern of incompetence" but no evidence of a coverup. GM will also establish a victim compensation fund. Joe White joins MoneyBeat with details. Photo: Getty Images. Does General Motors CEO Mary Barra deserve applause for how she handled the company's failure to act for years after becoming aware of its deadly ignition switch problem? Vianovo Partner Matthew Miller joins Lunch Break's Tanya Rivero to discuss. As a result, the company's investigators were stumped for years. Mr. Valukas said GM officials were "misled" by Mr. DeGiorgio, whose name was cited more than 200 times in the report and its footnotes. The report is a big step in Ms. Barra's scramble to bring the recall crisis under control, and the findings fill in many of the blanks that she declined to answer when questioned by lawmakers in early April. She now faces an uphill battle to instill urgency and accountability throughout a sprawling company long known for marathon meetings, PowerPoint presentations and a maze of departments largely cut off from other parts of GM. GM still is wrestling with a Justice Department criminal investigation, Securities and Exchange Commission probe and civil lawsuits from deaths, injuries and economic losses allegedly tied to the ignition-switch problems. Congressional committees are investigating the company's handling of safety defects, and Ms. Barra is expected to testify again as early as this month.Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said the internal report is "not only a window into GM's incompetence but also a failure to come clean and acknowledge full responsibility." House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) said GM and federal officials "must continue to cooperate and provide us honest answers as we work to determine what went wrong, if there are gaps in the law that allowed the system to fail, and what legislative remedies may be necessary." Plaintiffs' lawyers saw the report as ammunition to reopen wrongful-death lawsuits previously settled by the company. "It is critical that the civil cases move forward so that the American public may learn the whole truth, not just the truth GM chooses to disclose," said Lance Cooper, a lawyer representing the family of crash victim Brooke Melton. Ms. Barra and Mr. Ammann reiterated that GM will move ahead with an effort to compensate victims of crashes linked to the defect, using a fund set up and run by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg. He also will decide how many deaths can be tied to the ignition-switch defect. "I am gathering some preliminary ideas, I will talk with plaintiff attorneys, the company and others and devise a plan within the next few weeks," Mr. Feinberg said Thursday. Separately, GM Chairman Tim Solso said the board had "retained independent counsel to advise us with respect to this situation and governance and risk management issues. We will establish a stand-alone risk committee to assist in overseeing these efforts." The report by Mr. Valukas used "failure" or similar words more than 150 times. Information about problems with Chevrolet Cobalt ignition switches was shuffled among an "astonishing number of committees." GM engineers investigating complaints about air bag failures failed to locate key documents in GM's own data systems. When senior executives in the engineering and quality departments realized in late 2013 that a recall might be necessary, they waited weeks to act while sending subordinates to find more data. Engineers and executives failed to recognize that a car's sudden shut-off was a safety concern or that turning the ignition switch to the "off" position would cut power to air bags, Mr. Valukas said. Employees saw the switch problem as a "customer convenience" issue, not a safety defect. "Had GM personnel connected the dots and understood how their own cars were built, they might have addressed the safety defect before injuries and fatalities occurred," the internal report concluded. From 2011 to 2013, GM engineers assigned to figure out why air bags were failing on the Cobalt and other vehicles bogged down in a search for "root causes" and an inconclusive hunt for an "ultimate solution." Ms. Barra refused to delve into the moves by Mr. DeGiorgio, the fired GM engineer. The report didn't address why Mr. DeGiorgio changed the ignition switch's design. "To this day, in informal interviews and under oath, DeGiorgio claims not to remember authorizing the change to the ignition switch or his decision, at the same time, not to change the switch's part number," the report said.

Barclays staff are braced for thousands of job losses as part of a far-reaching strategic review designed to cut costs and revitalise its struggling investment bank. Britain’s third biggest bank is expected to announce the job losses, which could amount to as many 15,000, alongside a radical restructuring focused on its investment banking operations. Antony Jenkins, the bank's chief executive, is expected to announce the closure of business areas that were once among the best performing in the bank, including commodities, emerging market fixed income and parts of its operations in continental Europe and Asia. The 300-year-old bank, which operates in 50 countries and employs 140,000 staff, is expected to announce the creation of a new “bad bank” that will oversee the sell-off of the non-core assets. Even so, some analysts have argued that the overhaul won’t be enough to achieve the bank’s profitability targets. In a note on Wednesday, analysts at Citigroup said Barclays may have to delay its target of an 11.5pc return on equity by a year until 2017.

LONDON— Barclays PLC on Tuesday said it will cut up to 12,000 jobs this year as it reshapes its operations and grapples with a major slowdown in its investment bank. The bank, which has been selling loan portfolios and pulling out of European retail banking, posted a widened net loss of £642 million ($1.05 billion) for the fourth quarter, from £589 million in the last three months of 2012. Underlying profit for the full year fell to £5.17 billion from £7.60 billion, reflecting £1.2 billion in restructuring costs and lower revenue across the group. Barclays's investment-banking unit, usually its main profit generator, posted a rare quarterly operating loss of £329 million on higher expenses and declining fixed-income revenue. Fixed-income trading across the industry dried up last year as clients sat out uncertain markets. Despite the unit's stuttering performance, pay rose for many of Barclays's 26,200 investment-banking staff, with the unit's bonus pool up 13%. Restructuring costs hit other parts of Barclays, too, with the U.K. retail bank suffering a 40% fall in operating profit in the fourth quarter as jobs were cut and the bank started opening outlets in supermarkets. Losses widened in Europe, where the bank laid off 1,600 staff and shut 500 branches. Barclays's credit-card business also saw a slump in operating profit from adverse currency effects and rising expenses. Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins said the bank will continue to crack down on costs wherever possible and is taking "bold decisions" to reposition its business. He laid out a restructuring program a year ago to exit unprofitable businesses and shave £1.7 billion from the bank's annual cost base. So far, the program has cost Barclays £1.2 billion, including technology investments aimed at moving more customers online and out of branches. This year, the bank will reduce its 139,600-strong workforce by up to 9%. Around 7,000 of the job cuts will be in Britain, with the rest spread across its global operations. Some of the cuts will be at the highest level, Mr. Jenkins said, with 220 managing directors facing the ax. Barclays's decision to increase staff bonuses for 2013 despite lower revenue and profit prompted a backlash. "It cannot be right in any business for the executive bonus pool to be nearly three times bigger than the total dividend pay out to the company's owners," said Roger Barker, director of corporate governance at the Institution of Directors. "In 2013, the bank paid out £859 million in dividends compared to a staff bonus pool of £2.38 billion. The question must be asked—for whom is this institution being run?" Mr. Jenkins said the decision to increase the bonus pool from last year "is entirely appropriate for the long-term interests of our shareholders and I believe it to be consistent with our values to make sure Barclays is a sustainable enterprise." Analysts said the fourth-quarter and full-year figures largely met their expectations, following earlier guidance from the bank on how the numbers would stack up. Analysts at Espirito Santo said Barclays is doing a good job at improving its leverage ratio, a measure of equity to total assets, with around £140 billion in assets taken off the balance sheet since June and another net £60 billion reduction flagged by the bank Tuesday for completion next year. Some analysts were concerned, however, that toughened capital rules in the U.K. and Europe mean it will take longer than expected for the bank to start paying out higher dividends. The bank's shares fell 4%.

Seeing such a large scale retrencmenh, very sad. Somemore Chinese new year coming, should be receiving ang pow or AWS instead of this. http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/500-workers-retrenched-hard-drive-firm-hgst-union-help-20131227

[extract] The Eurozone debt crisis seemed to have taken its toll on the sales of PSA Peugeot-Citroen. The Group

Kinda sad for those affected ones. Xmas round the corner and CNY is not even near to hear this kind of news from the nation papers. Dec 10, 2010 S'PORE MOTOR INDUSTRY Letting go of staff By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent For Toyota agent Borneo Motors, the largest distributor here, another round of retrenchment could be around the corner. More than 100 employees have already been let go in two earlier rounds of staff cuts. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA IN WHAT could be a sign of things to come, motor group Cycle & Carriage will let its 20-strong Mitsubishi sales force and administrative support team go after Chinese New Year. The group, which retrenched a number of other employees earlier this year, will be farming out its Mitsubishi franchise to a sub-dealer.

Saab Automobile plans to reduce its workforce by 200 employees or about one-eighth of its current staff, according to report from Reuters citing a union official. Hakan Skott, a union representative at Saab, told the news site that the move was expected after the company's new owner, Dutch supercar maker Spyker, cut the firm's sales target from 60,000 units in February, to 45,000 a few months later and finally to just 30,000 cars at end of October. "I'm not exactly surprised. We reduced our sales forecast just a couple of weeks ago and there is a decline in sales every year around Christmas and at the end of the year," Skott said. "I'm sure that by February-March we will see an upward trend and people will buy cars again," he added. Saab has said in the past that it needs to sell around 80,000 cars per year to break even.On Friday, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri quoted Spyker's CEO Victor Muller as saying, "There is absolutely no reason to worry. Our plans for the future still stand. Next year, we will build 80,000 cars". As for the staff being laid, Muller told the newspaper that they were temporary employees. "You take them aboard when you need them and when they are not needed, they are not on board," he added. Saab