SINGAPORE: Singapore Post will lay off 45 employees as it carries out a "restructuring" exercise, the company said in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 19).

The 45 positions are primarily in corporate support units, with a small number from the international business unit, a SingPost spokesperson said in response to queries from CNA.

"This decision has not been taken lightly. For affected roles, the company has exhausted options to find alternative positions within SingPost," the spokesperson added.

The company is undertaking the restructuring exercise to "right-size and devolve corporate functions to its business units".

"The initiative aims to strengthen the operating capability of the business units by eliminating duplicate functions, and improve the agility and efficiency of the business."

SingPost said the restructuring was the result of "prolonged macroeconomic challenges facing the business including intense competition".

"We wish to emphasise that this initiative is not correlated with any previous incidents or whistleblowing reports," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that all affected employees will have access to outplacement and counselling services.

"Our focus remains on maintaining the strength and sustainability of our operations. We are committed to managing this process with utmost care for our employees involved."

Last December, SingPost fired three senior executives after a probe into a whistleblower's report found "grossly negligent" behaviour in their handling of internal investigations. 

The company terminated the employment of its group CEO Vincent Phang, group CFO Vincent Yik and the chief executive of the company's international business unit Li Yu.

All three senior executives have said they would contest their sackings.

SingPost had received a whistleblowing report earlier in the year about the group's non-regulated international e-commerce logistics parcel business, alleging manual entries of certain delivery status codes by the international business unit.

The manual entries were purportedly done to avoid the payment of certain contractual penalties to a customer. There was no basis for doing so and it was done without supporting documents.

An investigation was launched. Three managers, who were not named by SingPost, were sacked and a police report were made against them. 

Mr Phang, Mr Yik and Mr Yu were found to be "grossly negligent" in their handling of the internal investigations into the whistleblowing report.

SingPost said it would announce the appointment of the group CEO in due course. 

The CFO of its Australian business, Mr Isaac Mah, has taken over as the new group CFO, while Mr Gan Heng is acting CEO of the international business unit.