Goodbye to big tech’s big perks? S’pore workers say global techlash has come for their benefits

SINGAPORE – Big tech companies once represented the best of both worlds in corporate life – the boundless optimism of working in a field with seemingly endless growth, and great work-life balance padded with lavish perks and luxurious offices.

Eleven current and former Singapore-based employees at Apple, ByteDance, Microsoft, Google and Meta, who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the press, shared a common lament: The golden era of big tech perks and benefits may be coming to a close – and their firms now increasingly resemble the established corporate outfits they once sought to differentiate from.

He adds: “Every tech company is doing layoffs, so the tech sector is definitely not as safe as it used to be, but it’s not so much the layoffs that changed how I look at the industry – it’s supply and demand.”

“With thousands of fresh grads being pumped out every year, I don’t think the demand will catch up to what it was,” Thomas says. “But the benefits, even though they are maybe 60 per cent of what they used to be, are still best in class.”

“It’s definitely getting worse. Everyone is in survival mode, and money is being spent on artificial intelligence data centres, not people,” says the former tech worker, who is in his early 40s.

“During the pandemic, we expanded like crazy. I don’t think the expansion was thought through, and that was the crux of the problem,” she adds. She says that following the layoffs, there was a rise in office politics and bitter infighting over overlapping responsibilities among teams.

“The story to me isn’t about benefit packages, but about middle management and why these systems failed.”

What mattered most were bigger-ticket items like changes in insurance providers, annual pay increments being decreased or eliminated, or promotion being curtailed – a sentiment echoed by other workers who spoke to ST.

Still, he acknowledges that compensation and benefits in the sector remain well ahead of others. “It’s only because things used to be much better that people are having a tough time reconciling and accepting that the good times are over,” he says.

Unlike earlier years of double-digit growth, big tech firms now operate in a more hostile regulatory and public environment. The backlash against the biggest tech companies has reached such heights that a new term has risen to describe it: techlash.

He also expresses concern about the rise of protectionism in the US and its impact on his former company’s culture. “A lot of strategic roles and higher-level roles were stripped away and pushed back to the US, and roles in Apac are diminished in agency,” he says.

continue reading the ultra-long article here...
https://www.straitstimes.com/life/goodbye-t...-their-benefits

This post has been edited by ipohps3: Nov 17 2024, 01:13 AM

but previously tech people earn alot more, should already have tons of savings and make some investment no? problem is people think they will earn big forever, so buy civic in their mid 20s.

how about new gen/fresh grads?

they are the victims of course. but for 40s that have nothing in their disposal for raining day, dude what are you doing?

This is actually very true.

Just create/join new start up and leave the soon to be dinosaurs behind

that is mostly big earner like singaporean problem, better just get american if the cost is just a bit higher.
for malaysia workers, uhhmmm yeah lets wait for a bit ya.
however, AI is major disruptor, low wage worker also hard to compete with it.

This post has been edited by zerorating: Nov 17 2024, 01:19 AM

be the share holder
they work for me
incl Elon Musk

Kesian no more golden handcuff

Yea, the market is insanely competitive now

Senior used to earn 10k easily to now just mere 6k

Phew… that’s pretty sad

Another fella who doesn't know what he is talking about lol...

It's not about costs, it's about favouritism. Omputeh will always prefer their white skin over ours.. if it is about costs, they will prefer Bharat.

You never work in a proper MNC before, right? 😆 🤣

I hope this doesn't happen here

hope is not a strategy

its mostly about value, my dear. many have fallen to india, but some do came back, maybe the output provided were not as expected.
omputeh get the best position is true, but they have lost tons of low-level positions.
the company i work, always the regional leader ancam the workers to delivers, if not, succumb to india instead.

Ask yourself la, 1 omputeh cost can cover how many Bharats.

Those well paying positions will always go back to white skin land.

is this for singapore?
sometime i felt it is "too good to be true" that the company i work do salary revision few time without being asked, are they really desperate on talent retention? what if they felt i am too expensive to keep, they can just kick me out without second doubt at all.

menwhile our imported bharat working here were being paid damn handsomely, so made me think are bharat operated in india being paid damn cheap compared to malaysian?
last company that i work we had indian team doing the same stuff as us,this team replacing our existing shanghai team, guess what, that india team kena tutup less than a year, we need to expand our team to cover up the shits lel.so we just expand our team by 5 people to replace around 10 people of those india team and it works just fine lel.

This post has been edited by zerorating: Nov 17 2024, 04:22 AM

Survival mode – How Singapore restaurants are riding a bumpy year

SINGAPORE – There is no way to sugar-coat this: 2024 has been a bad year for restaurants in Singapore. Chefs and owners who were predicting a tough year have found the going worse than they had dreaded.

The strong Singapore dollar has made the Republic expensive for tourists. People here are saving to spend overseas. The goods and services tax hike has made diners more wary of spending. People are going across the Causeway for groceries, haircuts, meals and entertainment.

https://www.straitstimes.com/life/food/surv...ng-a-bumpy-year

This post has been edited by Phoenix_KL: Nov 17 2024, 04:37 AM

Malaysia not that cheap. Bharat cheaper. My company offshore mostly to Bharat, but these days not so much because can use AI

After RTS opens billions of retail spending will outflow to JB.