The firm has also suspended salary reviews and bonuses for all levels until June 2026
[SINGAPORE] Public relations company We. Communications recently laid off a significant number of staff in its Singapore office, with their last day of employment being Thursday (Sep 25).
Sources said that those affected were from numerous departments and a range of positions from entry-level to at least one director. The majority of those laid-off were new hires – less than two years in the company, with one reportedly there for less than a month.
Staff were offered severance pay, although specific details on these retrenchment benefits were not made clear.
Individuals affected include those from the creative, digital, public relations and communications, operations and special projects teams, among others. The creative team was one of the hardest hit, losing approximately half its headcount.
In response to queries from The Business Times, a spokesman for the company said on Friday: “We have made the difficult decision to realign parts of our business, which has impacted a small number of roles.”
In an internal e-mail seen by BT, the company cited significant changes to the business over the last year –particularly the last six months – as a reason for the move. This included shrinking client budgets and a shift towards in-house public relations and communications, resulting in “an incredible increase in competition”.
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“All of these created significant budget gaps for the agency that we can no longer offset, hence making this step unavoidable,” the company said.
It also suspended certain benefits, including wellness, learning, employee referrals and anniversary recognition until June 2026. Salary reviews and bonuses for all levels have also been suspended until that time.
“Our priority is to support affected colleagues with care and respect. This includes providing strong references and transition assistance. We have also followed the responsible retrenchment recommendations outlined by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower,” said the spokesman.
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Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, We. Communications was founded in 1983 by Melissa Waggener Zorkin, its current global chief executive officer. It was formerly known as WE Communications before a rebranding in March.
The company has more than 1,500 employees and is present in more than 100 international markets, its website indicated.
In July, it said that it would reduce its total headcount by 2 per cent, with the layoffs mostly affecting US-based staff.
The move was a response to reduced budgets from key technology clients, as the tech sector has seen shrinking budgets and brutal layoffs earlier this year.
Microsoft is a long-time client of We. Communications, which has also worked with Adobe, SAP and Tencent.
In July, Microsoft announced 9,000 job cuts worldwide and has laid off around 15,000 staff this year. The company neither confirmed nor denied that Singapore staff would be affected.
