GovTech retrenchments: Excellence or an iron rice bowl? The public service can’t be both
The reaction exposes a tension Singapore hasn’t resolved – we want a world-class public service, but we also want government jobs to last forever.
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The loudest reaction to GovTech’s retrenchment exercise was not that 93 people had lost their jobs. It was that government employees could lose their jobs at all.
ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
Benjamin Goh
The Government Technology Agency (GovTech) announced a retrenchment exercise on July 17 in which 93 staff were laid off as part of a broader restructuring. GovTech chairman Chng Kai Fong said in an internal memo that this was not another AI-related restructuring, but part of a broader transformation to keep GovTech relevant in the digital age.
The loudest reaction to GovTech’s retrenchment exercise was not that 93 people had lost their jobs. It was that government employees could lose their jobs at all.
