A few months ago, I had breakfast with the CEO of a large Singapore organisation, and he told me something he would never say from a stage.
He had a ‘bloat’ (his word, not mine) of around 14% of staff whom “nobody would notice if they didn’t turn up for work”. He’d tried retraining them, he’d tried redeploying them, and none of it moved the needle. I could hear the frustration in his voice.
So why hadn’t he cut a single role? Because nobody wanted to go first and eat the reputational hit.
Last week, GovTech went first… 93 roles gone, with roughly 300 more to follow over the next two years.
Everyone is reading it as a tech story, but honestly that’s the least interesting part of it. The real story is the signal it just sent to every CEO and boardroom in Singapore… that if the Government can retrench their staff, so can they.
And my breakfast CEO isn’t alone. For years, plenty of companies (and not-for-profit organisations too) have been sitting on bloated headcount and doing nothing about it, not because they couldn’t cut, but because nobody wanted to be the first one blamed for it.
And GovTech just handed them the Blank Cheque.
CEOs will now say, “Hey, even GovTech did it, responsibly, with the union at the table, with ZERO repercussions…so we can do it too!” That’s a powerful line in a boardroom, and I think we’re about to watch a lot of sacred cows get slaughtered.
And they are now emboldened to follow suit, hence we’re looking at a major Retrenchment Cycle in 2027.
So, there are three things I want to bring up today.
1. Save Your Bonuses – 2027 Will Be The Year Of Massive Retrenchments
So, right now, a good number of CEOs are looking at this ‘Permission Slip’ given by GovTech and are thinking, “Hey, it’s no longer taboo to retrench… let’s do it too!”
So, in 2027, I anticipate the floodgates will be open and retrenchment numbers will hit the roof… but don’t panic my friends. Instead, do the following:
- Upgrade your skills before you’re forced to
- Hunt for higher value-add roles, inside and outside your company, before the market floods with people doing the same in a panic
- And this December, don’t blow your bonus. Bank it. Build your Freedom Fund
I’m not writing this to scare you. I’d just rather you hear it from me today than from HR twelve months from now.
2. The “Safe” Job Doesn’t Exist
Just this morning, I had breakfast with a senior leader in a GLC (Government Linked Company) who told me over coffee, “Adrian, I don’t need to worry about retrenchment. My organisation never retrenches.”
I just sent him the link to the GovTech news article ten minutes ago with the message “Don’t be Complacent, Buddy! :)”.
You won’t believe how many times I’ve heard that line from senior PMETs in their 40s and 50s, and many found out the ugly truth the hard way.
GovTech is the flagship of our Smart Nation dream, in the fastest-growing sector, backed by a “Government” name…and it’s downsizing. If that job can be restructured, no job is truly safe. Complacency is the most expensive idea you are carrying around.
3. Note The “DoubleSpeak”
GovTech’s Chairman Chng Kai Fong was quoted as saying they were “Changing shape, not shrinking”…because of this change in Business Model:
Look at which roles went: the traditional project and vendor management ones.
GovTech used to appoint vendors and manage those contracts and the folks running this function were seen to be doing low value-creation activities – the digital postman passing instructions between two parties. Now that it wants to own its own development teams and deliver higher value-add work, the middle-layer coordinators became redundant.
And un-ironically, because of this change, GovTech is cutting project managers while hiring product managers.
Yes, GovTech says it’ll end up bigger and this isn’t about AI…and that’s exactly the point! Even a company that’s growing is culling roles that don’t create enough value.
This is where our 4X Principle bites.
To justify your seat, you need to create at least four times the value of your pay. If you can prove your 4X, you’re an appreciating asset worth keeping. If your honest answer is “I coordinate things” or “I’ve been here a long time,” you’re exposed…and no org chart will save you.
So… How much value are you creating for your company, and are you delivering more than 4X your cost? If you aren’t… your job might just be next.
Want a free copy of our latest book, “Responsible Retrenchment (2nd Edition)”? Join us for our book launch on the 30th of July 2026! Click here to register.
