13 Layoffs in Singapore 2022: Are tech employees overpaid?

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At least 1,270 tech jobs were retrenched from July to November 2022. Many of such layoffs were due to economic uncertainty and aggressive hiring during the tech boom amidst the pandemic.

We laid out all the facts of these layoffs that happened in 2022 and dug into how much they are paying their employees to answer the question - did they overpay their tech employees?

Disclaimer: Companies included in this article are only based on media-reported layoffs.

TL;DR: Most pay above-market rate, but it is not the main reason for the layoffs

  • Out of 13 layoffs, 4 belong to the FinTech and Cryptocurrency industry.
  • Some top reasons for layoffs include company restructuring, economic slowdown and cost-cutting measures.
  • Layoffs partly due to pressure from investors to be more profitable

1. Sea 

Sea is a tech conglomerate based in Singapore. Originally founded in 2009 as Garena, a game development and publishing company, it now operates as a holding company for Garena, SeaMoney and Shopee.

What happened?

The 1st wave of layoffs took place in June 2022, whereby employees of ShopeePay and ShopeeFood were affected. However, this wave of layoffs did not affect the employees in Singapore.

A 2nd wave of layoffs took place in September 2022, which affected employees of Garena in teams involved in product management and QA. Sea also closed down some experimental ventures on public cloud and blockchain at Sea Labs.

A 3rd wave of layoffs took place in November 2022, primarily involving human resources functions. A total of 7,000 jobs were cut across 6 months. 

Why did it happen?

The company chose to focus on efficiency as Sea has lost nearly US$170 billion in market value since hitting a high in October 2021. They experienced the e-commerce boom in 2020 due to the pandemic but could not recover.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Sea (inclusive of Shopee & Garena and excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Sea, Shopee and Garena salaries.

Working at Sea? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

We also compiled the interview questions for Shopee’s Software Engineering roles and spoke to a Frontend Developer there to understand what it’s like to work at Shopee.

2. Coinbase

Coinbase is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. It is a distributed company with no physical headquarters and all employees work remotely.

What happened?

Coinbase laid off 18% of its workforce, amounting to around 1,200 employees in June 2022. Subsequently, 60 more positions were let off in November 2022. In the most recent layoff in Jan 2023, about 20% of the workforce (about 950 employees) were laid off. 

Most of the Singaporeans affected were reportedly in the recruitment team during the June 2022 layoff.

Why did it happen?

The cryptocurrency bear market continues to persist and is a main contributor to the sharp fall in Coinbase’s shares by 86% in 2022. 

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Coinbase(excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Coinbase salaries.

Working at Coinbase? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

3. StashAway

Headquartered in Singapore, StashAway is a digital wealth manager that intelligently navigates macroeconomic data. StashAway personalises financial planning and portfolio management for the vast range of needs of retail and accredited investors alike.

What happened?

StashAway laid off 14% of its headcount in June 2022, amounting to 31 positions across 5 markets, including Singapore.

Despite the layoff in 2022, StashAway bounced back quickly and is one of the top 10 Fintech companies to work in 2023!

Why did it happen?

The layoff was part of a restructuring initiative led by the company amid economic uncertainty. StashAway, however, has been looking to expand its investment team and launch new products within the few months after the layoff.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at StashAway (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all StashAway salaries.

Working at StashAway? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

4. Crypto.com

Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is trusted by more than 80 million customers worldwide and is the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy certifications, achieving so with their emphasis on leading edge technologies and great code quality.

What happened?

Crypto.com laid off around 260 staff in June 2022, and further cut 20% of their global workforce in January 2023.

Why did it happen?

The cut was reported as a move to weather the economic downturn amid rising interest rates. CEO Kris Marszalek explained that the company is shifting to optimize profitability and sustainable growth during the market downturn.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Crypto.com (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Crypto.com salaries.

Working at Crypto.com? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

5. foodpanda

foodpanda is an online food and grocery delivery platform owned by Berlin-based Delivery Hero. It is currently the largest food and grocery delivery platform in Asia, outside of China, operating in 12 markets across Asia.

What happened?

foodpanda was reported to let go of 5% of their Singapore-based regional team in September 2022. Staff from the Philippines and Thailand were also affected by the job cut.

Why did it happen?

foodpanda’s German parent company Delivery Hero laid out a clear objective to become EBITDA-positive by reducing costs and moving towards profitability.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at foodpanda (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all foodpanda salaries.

Working at foodpanda? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

6. Stripe

Stripe is one of the top fintech companies globally and offers payment processing software and APIs for e-commerce websites and mobile applications. P.S. Stripe has a really interesting interview process unlike most FAANG (of MANGA)

What happened?

Stripe laid off about 14% of its workforce in October 2022. It was reported that the company’s people and recruiting team were hit the hardest in the Singapore office. There were at least 30 affected employees based in Singapore.

Why did it happen?

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison shared in a memo to staff that the company had overhired and the job cuts were necessary to correct the leadership errors of judgement. Stripe was also reported to have lost its valuation by 28% in June 2022.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Stripe (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Stripe salaries.

Working at Stripe? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

7. GoTo

GoTo was formed in 2021 in a merger — the largest in the country at that time between Indonesia's two most valuable startups, ride-hailing giant Gojek and e-commerce firm Tokopedia. 

What happened?

GoTo laid off 1,000 workers across its operating countries, including Singapore, in November 2022. The layoff impacts all 3 arms of the company.

Why did it happen?

The layoff was said to be due to the economic slowdown amidst rising interest rates and inflation. The company reported its second-quarter adjusted loss in August 2022.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at GoTo (inclusive of Gojek & Tokopedia excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Gojek and Tokopedia salaries.

Working at GoTo? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

8. Meta

Meta is an American multinational technology conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other products and services.

What happened?

Meta announced that they were laying off 11,000 positions worldwide in November 2022, marking their first-ever mass layoff in 18 years. More than 50 affected positions were in Singapore, where half of the affected jobs comprise tech roles. 

Why did it happen?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained that the layoff was a cost-cutting measure as the company struggles with rising costs and falling ad revenues.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Meta (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Meta salaries.

Working at Meta? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

9. Twitter

Twitter is a social networking platform with approximately 450 million monthly active users.

What happened?

Twitter laid off half of their global headcount in November 2022, which accounts for around 3,700 employees. Affected employees in Singapore were from the marketing, sales and engineering team.

Why did it happen?

After acquiring Twitter, CEO Elon Musk made the move for a mass layoff to lower its cost. The company was reported to be losing more than US$4 million per day.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Twitter (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Twitter salaries.

Working at Twitter? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

10. Flash Coffee

Flash Coffee is a tech-enabled coffee chain, operating in seven markets across Asia Pacific. 

What happened?

Flash Coffee laid off employees across different markets in November 2022 - most of them based in Singapore and Indonesia. The company did not report the exact figure of their layoff.

Why did it happen?

The layoff was due to a region-wide restructuring to align with their ongoing financial efforts.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Flash Coffee (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Flash Coffee salaries.

Working at Flash Coffee? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

11. Carousell

Carousell is a Singaporean smartphone and web-based consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer marketplace for buying and selling new and secondhand goods. Hear more about the Carousell culture from their 1st engineering hire!

What happened?

Carousell cut 110 jobs (10% of their total headcount) in December 2022. 50 of the affected roles were based in Singapore.

Why did it happen?

In a note to employees, CEO Quek Siu Rui explained the company was too quick in ramping up new initiatives. These involved aggressive hiring but did not meet the returns, resulting in losses. 

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Carousell (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Carousell salaries.

Working at Carousell? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

12. Chope

Chope is a real-time restaurant reservation booking system that connects diners with its partner restaurants.

What happened?

Chope laid off 65 employees in December 2022, and 38 were from the Singapore office. 

Why did it happen?

CEO Arrif Ziaudeen has said that their company has been affected by the fast-changing economic conditions in the past month and needed to focus on efficiency.

How much were they paying?

Average salary ranges for the different positions at Chope (excluding managerial levels) based on user submissions and past job listings:

View all Chope salaries.

Working at Chope? Contribute your salaries and reviews!

13. Glints

Glints is a career discovery and talent acquisition platform that connects job seekers with companies, providing them with tools to find their ideal job and develop their careers.

What happened?

Nearly 18% of the employees were affected by the layoffs in December 2022, which accounts for about 198 employees.

Why did it happen?

CEO Oswald Yeo attributed the move to market uncertainty which caused a slowdown in business growth. The company has previously implemented a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting measures before laying off employees.

Did these companies overpay their employees?

Having spoken to top CTOs in the regions, it seems like paying top dollars is one of the pieces of advice shared by many.

"Always pay top dollar for top talents," Julius Uy, CTO of Kydon Group & ZilLearn said. According to Julius, various studies have found that the top 10% of engineers outperform the top 50% by up to 2.5 times. "What this basically means is that companies save a lot of money by paying top dollar for top talents."

Companies can also build their compensation plan to remain competitive by granting Employer Stock Options (ESOPs), equity, and performance bonuses to reward exceptional employees' excellent performance.

What caused the layoff?

Having spoken to top CTOs in the regions, it seems like paying top dollars is one of the pieces of advice shared by many.

Many tech companies laying people off still have plenty of money. Some are profitable - Microsoft just announced a $10 billion investment in the creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI.

The reason behind the tech industry layoffs might be more related to investor pressure than company profits. Investors tend to focus more on revenue per employee, which has decreased significantly due to pandemic-related hiring in major tech firms. 

Companies can counteract this by showing commitment to financial responsibility and long-term growth through cost-cutting measures.

Affected by the layoff?

We are sorry to hear that you were affected by the layoff. Over here at NodeFlair, we are determined to have you match with your next tech company by providing in-depth insights. Check out our Jobs page to look out for your next move.

Are these salary data accurate?

To ensure the highest data accuracy and legitimacy possible for the community, we use payslips or offer letters as proof to verify the salary submissions.

Our team will vet through to ensure accuracy and publish thereafter if all is in order. In rare instances where there might be inconsistencies, our team will reach out to the user who has submitted for further clarification before publishing any data point.

While this process sounds tedious, it is a commitment we are willing to uptake as we strive for more transparency and fairer salary practices.

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You can also check out our Tech Talent Compensation Report (Singapore 2021 / 2022) with Quest Ventures!

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