The management of Surbana Jurong explained that staff from the company who lost their jobs recently were not paid any retrenchment benefits because it was not a retrenchment exercise ("Surbana CEO defends axing 'poor performers' "; Jan 19).

The management said that the affected group of employees are poor performers.

Does Surbana have a company policy on managing poor performers?

Were they informed of their poor performance earlier and counselled on how they could improve?

Were they placed on a performance management programme, coached and had their performance monitored for a period of time prior to a decision being taken on them?

Businesses operate in a challenging environment and they have to make strategic changes to keep up with the challenges.

However, all employees have to be treated with respect at all times.

This should be part of every business' code of business ethics.

Sam Vijaya