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Genting-owned Resorts World Sentosa announced today it is laying off staff as part of restructuring plans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s financial impact. 

Thousands of people work at the Sentosa island resort, which includes a casino, hotel, and aquarium. In a statement issued today, the resort did not say how many employees would be affected but pledged to work with the Manpower Ministry and a separate multi-agency task force to help those affected find work. 

The Singapore National Employers Federation is also in the loop to help the exercise be carried out in “a responsible, transparent and sensitive manner.”

“In this latest round of review, we have made the difficult decision to implement a one-off workforce rationalisation. This decision was made after a thorough process of careful deliberation and consultation,” its statement read. 

The company said that it has extended “fair compensation terms” to departing staff, and claimed that “at least two to three job opportunities have been successfully identified and shortlisted for every affected local team member.”

It did not specify what those jobs were or whether they offered comparable compensation.

The task force helping the newly unemployed find other jobs includes representatives from the Attractions, Resorts & Entertainment Union; NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute; the Public Service Division; Workforce Singapore; and SkillsFuture Singapore. 

Singapore’s tourism sector has been ravaged by the pandemic due to travel restrictions, the “circuit breaker” lockdown measures, and shutdowns of entertainment centers. The Ministry for Trade and Industry announced yesterday that the economy shrank by 41.2% in the second quarter of this year, with the tourism-related sector declining by 37.7% since the first quarter.

The resort said it would need to reinvent itself to be a more “adept and nimble” organization to confront adversity. 

It also vaguely laid out some of its business recovery plans in the statement, which included investing in “cutting edge” technology and taking steps to “revolutionise” the visitor experience. 

“As we reshape our business, we have streamlined our operational resources to … stay agile and respond quickly to situations that develop in this unpredictable climate. Over the past few months, we have reviewed all costs, eliminated non-essential spending, and reduced the salaries of management by up to 30%,” it said.

Resorts World reopened the Universal Studios theme park and S.E.A. Aquarium on July 1. 

It says it is one of Singapore’s with employees that include foreign workers from countries such as China, Malaysia, and Australia.

After this article was published, RWS said it had over 7,000 full-time employees as of 2019.

Editor’s note: This article was updated with new detail on RWS’ full-time employees

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