Global PR firm We. Communications lays off staff in Singapore
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We. Communications said it will support affected workers by providing strong references and transition assistance.
PHOTO: WE. COMMUNICATIONS
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- We. Communications laid off 7% of its team in Singapore due to rising competition and clients moving PR function in-house.
- The company is providing support to affected workers, including severance packages exceeding local requirements.
- This follows other recent reported retrenchments at companies such as Agoda, Changi Travel Services, Mediacorp and Ninja Van.
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SINGAPORE – Global public relations firm We. Communications has laid off eight employees or 7 per cent of its Singapore team.
In an e-mail to its staff here on Sept 25, it said it is grappling with rising competition and a growing trend of clients moving public relations functions in-house over the past six to 12 months.
This has created “significant budget gaps for the agency”, according to the e-mail seen by The Straits Times.
In response to ST queries, a spokesman for We. Communications confirmed on Sept 26 that the US-headquartered company cut a small number of roles as part of a business realignment.
He said the company will support affected workers with care and respect, including providing strong references, optional reduced-capacity contracts and access to job search resources through government initiatives.
“We have followed the responsible retrenchment recommendations outlined by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and have provided severance packages that go above local requirements to ease the transition.
“We continue to maintain a significant presence in Singapore, and are committed to serving our clients and investing in our long-term future here,” he added.
LinkedIn indicates that the company employs close to 90 people in Singapore, based on a check on Sept 26. As at May, it had about 1,300 employees globally, according to a June 30 article on the PRWeek website.
We. Communications had said it decided to lay off 2 per cent of its global workforce due to “budget reductions tied to select technology-sector clients”.
One of its largest tech clients is Microsoft, which announced two rounds of job cuts earlier in 2025, affecting some 15,000 workers.
ST understands that the affected roles in We. Communications’ Singapore office span the agency’s creative, digital, PR and communications, operations, special projects and integrated marketing teams.
Reviews for employees who are not impacted by the layoffs are understood to have been paused, according to sources who requested anonymity.
This layoff follows other recently reported retrenchments at companies such as Agoda, Changi Travel Services, Mediacorp and Ninja Van.
According to the MOM’s latest labour market report,
We. Communications is a non-unionised company, and some of its employees are members of Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU).
SISEU executive secretary Desmond Tan said the National Trades Union Congress and union will help affected members and workers transition into new jobs and provide them with financial support, if needed.
He added that Singaporeans and permanent residents can tap services on job matching and training platform e2i, including career coaching and advice on skills upgrading.
Eligible union members can leverage the Union Training Assistance Programme to offset training costs.
Additional reporting by Sharon Salim
