We. Communications cuts some of its Singapore workforce 

[SINGAPORE] Public relations company We. Communications recently laid off a significant number of staff in its Singapore office, with their last day of employment being Thursday (Sep 25).

In response to queries from The Business Times, a spokesperson for the company said on Friday that it had made “the difficult decision to realign parts of its business” and let go of eight employees, representing around 7 per cent of its headcount in Singapore.

Sources said those affected were from numerous departments and a range of positions from entry-level to at least one director. The majority of those laid off were new hires – less than two years in the company, with one reportedly there for less than a month.

Staff were offered severance pay, although specific details on these retrenchment benefits were not divulged.

The individuals affected include those from the creative, digital, public relations and communications, operations and special projects teams. The creative team was one of the hardest hit, losing about half its headcount.

“Our priority is to support affected colleagues with care and respect. This includes strong references, access to job search resources through government initiatives, optional reduced-capacity contracts, and ongoing assistance from our HR team,” said the company in a statement.

“We have followed the responsible retrenchment recommendations outlined by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower and have provided severance packages that go above local requirements to ease the transition,” it added.

“Incredible increase” in competition

In an internal e-mail seen by BT, We. Communications cited significant changes to the business over the last year – particularly the last six months – as a reason for the move.

These included shrinking client budgets and a shift towards in-house public relations and communications, resulting in “an incredible increase in competition”.

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“All of these created significant budget gaps for the agency that we can no longer offset, hence making this step unavoidable,” the company said.

It also suspended certain benefits, including wellness, learning, employee referrals and anniversary recognition until June 2026. Salary reviews and bonuses for all levels have also been suspended until then.

“We continue to maintain a significant presence in Singapore, and are committed to serving our clients and investing in our long-term future here,” the company said.

Desmond Tan, executive secretary of the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), said in a statement that while We. Communications is not a unionised company, “we know of workers who are members of the SISEU, a union affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)”.

“In retrenchment exercises where union members are working in non-unionised companies, NTUC’s affiliated unions and/or associations will extend assistance to our members should they be affected by the exercises,” he said.

He added that NTUC and SISEU are ready to help members and workers transition to new job opportunities and provide financial support, if needed, including job-matching services, career coaching and advice on upskilling at NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute.

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, We. Communications was founded in 1983 by Melissa Waggener Zorkin, its current global chief executive officer. It was formerly known as WE Communications before a rebranding in March.

The company has more than 1,500 employees and is present in more than 100 international markets, its website indicated.

In July, it said that it would reduce its total global headcount by 2 per cent, with the layoffs mostly affecting US-based staff.

The move was a response to reduced budgets from key technology clients, with the tech sector having been hit by shrinking budgets and brutal layoffs earlier this year.

Microsoft is a long-time client of We. Communications, which has also worked with Adobe, SAP and Tencent.

In July, Microsoft announced 9,000 job cuts worldwide, and has laid off around 15,000 staff this year. The company neither confirmed nor denied that Singapore staff would be affected.