DFS Group Reportedly Laid Off 60 Staff & They’re Not from the Changi Airport Outlet

I‘m sure we’ve heard that DFS at Changi Airport will be closing down their alcohol and liquor stores by June 2020.

Yeah, we were all pretty bumped by that news. But hey, at least it turned out well that there will be another operator in place.

Here’s another news for you, my pals. Remember that one of the reasons for their closure was the lack of financial viability?

To continue remaining viable, DFS Group has reportedly laid off about 60 staff.

Hint: It is not from the Changi Airport Outlet.

Re-balancing Workforce

If you’ve guessed that the 60 workers that were reportedly laid off were mostly from the T Galleria by DFS outlet in Scotts Road, you were right.

Most of them work on the first floor of the outlet, in the cosmetics and perfume section.

And the reason for this is that the company has decided to “rebalance its workforce” according to TODAYonline.

A DFS spokesperson had told TODAYonline on Thursday (26 September) that DFS has made the decision to rebalance its workforce in Singapore due to the challenging global travel retail environment.

According to the spokesperson, DFS focuses on “serving (their) travelling customers”, while investing in the wealth of opportunity that Singapore offers as a creation of a regional hub for technology and innovation. Hence, their priority now is to “support (their) employees during this period of change.”

In addition, The National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) said that DFS staff are not unionised, and neither was NTUC consulted about the exercise.

But then again, this is just an allegation so NTUC can’t do much yet.

Not a Financially Viable Option

Previously, there were 500 staff affected by the news of DFS’s withdrawal from Changi Airport.

To resolve this issue, a DFS spokesperson suggested that perhaps some staff could be redeployed to T Galleria.

I guess redeployment would be out of the picture now. Given that it is difficult for them to stay in Changi due to the change in regulations in the sale of liquor and tobacco, they must be quite affected by it.

Let’s hope that their employees were offered a number of options to cope with their retrenchment.

Sometimes, a business gotta do what as business needs in the face of financial uncertainty.

If not…they’ll be honestbeed and more people are going to be affected.