THE Government, employers and unions are urging companies with excess manpower to consider alternatives like re-deployment and short work-weeks before resorting to retrenchment.

They will issue revised guidelines on managing excess manpower on Wednesday, which will also call on companies to discuss with their unions and the Manpower Ministry (MOM) before laying off workers.

'We urge companies to apply these guidelines and take a longer term view to managing their manpower,' said Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong on Tuesday in a written reply to an MP's question in Parliament.

His comments follow labour chief Lim Swee Say's criticism of DBS Bank last Friday for failing to consult its staff union before retrenching over 450 workers here, and for not exploring other cost-cutting measures first.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC) had asked Mr Gan about his ministry's plans to stem the tide of retrenchment, help jobless Singaporeans and ensure non-unionised workers are properly compensated when they are laid off.

Mr Gan said his ministry is working closely with the Singapore National Employers' Federation and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) on two strategies to help companies and workers cope with the downturn and invest in skills for a recovery.

The first strategy is to explore measures to reduce manpower costs, including sending excess workers for training.

'The tripartite partners strongly encourage companies to manage their excess manpower and consider retrenchments only as a last resort,' Mr Gan said. Besides redeploying workers to other areas of work and adopting shorter work-weeks, companies can also send them for training.

Bosses can also manage wage costs through the flexible wage system, or implement temporary lay-offs.

But Mr Gan said the tripartite partners accepted that even with these measures, 'retrenchments may sometimes be inevitable.'

'In these situations, companies are encouraged to discuss with their unions if they are unionised, and with MOM to ensure that retrenchment could be carried out responsibly and smoothly,' he said.

He added that non-unionised workers who are laid off can also seek advice and help from his ministry.

The second strategy is to help retrenched workers find new jobs, and send them for re-orientation and skills upgrading courses.

A tripartite taskforce has been set up to coordinate and facilitate these efforts, said Mr Gan.

Also in the works is the new Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur), which Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday will include a loan access scheme for businesses and a new training programme for workers. More details will be released later this week.