Constellar Holdings has retrenched 21 employees, equivalent to 12 per cent of its employees in the Singapore office, citing the prolonged impact of Covid-19 as a reason.
This exercise was conducted in close consultation with the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union, and with the support of the Employment and Employability Institute, to assist affected employees with advice and counsel in their career transition.
Affected and eligible employees will get a retrenchment package based on their length of service. Constellar will also continue to extend medical insurance coverage to them until March 31, 2022, or when they find employment, whichever is earlier.
This move is despite having implemented cost reduction and a freeze on wages and hiring, tapping on government support such as the Jobs Support Scheme, and implementing management pay cuts of up to 30 per cent.
Since the circuit breaker in Singapore was implemented in April 2020, the events industry has been severely upended. Events in Singapore were suspended and were only allowed within strict capacity limits and safe events protocol from October 2020 with travel and border restrictions effectively in place. As a result, the majority of events had to be postponed or cancelled, while others had to be significantly downsized, or go digital or hybrid. This has resulted in a 95 per cent drop in physical events held at its managed venue, the Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria.
With a skeletal pipeline of events and the Covid-19 situation still unpredictable, Constellar said in a press statement that it has had to undertake this exercise to preserve financial resources and get ready to rebuild as the economy recovers.
“Like the rest of the events industry, we’re facing the hard truths of huge uncertainty, cautious sentiment, low business volume and continued cost pressures. The rightsizing decision is a deeply difficult one, after considering all options and scenarios,” a spokesperson for Constellar Holdings said.
