WHEN customer service officer Zainab Rabi (above) heard there would be no retrenchments at FairPrice this year, she almost wept with relief.
The 48-year-old FairPrice employee, who takes home about $900 every month, had been worrying for a long time.
'I could not sleep at night, I kept thinking where would I go if I lost my job,' said the single mother of three who has secondary education.
'I am so relieved now.'
She is one of over 6,000 FairPrice employees whose jobs will be safe this year. Yesterday, its chairman announced that there will be no retrenchments at FairPrice despite the economic downturn, and it would be hiring 500 more people.
Currently, it has 1,700 part-time and 3,200 full-time staff who work in more than 200 stores, including hypermarkets and Cheers convenience stores.
It also hires 600 temporary staff who work for a month to three months at a time, and has 500 executive staff.
FairPrice's move goes against the tide. In the fourth quarter of last year, 2,346 workers lost their jobs, up from 1,798 in the previous quarter and 1,827 a year ago.
In December, Philips Singapore retrenched closed to 100 employees as part of a restructuring effort. The month before, DBS laid off 900 workers in its Singapore and Hong Kong offices.
FairPrice employee William Koh, 60, is glad he no longer needs to worry.
He said: 'When elderly employees like us hear we can keep our jobs, it's like saying we have guaranteed income for a year. It makes us happy.'