IHH Healthcare to Cut About 380 Jobs Across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia

Business Support Consolidation Will Affect Three Markets

IHH Healthcare plans to cut about 380 jobs across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia as it consolidates business support services, while moving some employees into redesigned roles. The departures represent approximately 0.5 per cent of the hospital group's total workforce of 76,000.

Affected employees were informed on November 4, the day IHH announced the changes, according to Patrick Tay, secretary-general of the Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU). He said the union had received advance notice and was working with the company on severance and support for workers.

IHH said clinical services, healthcare professionals and teams dealing directly with patients would not be affected. Patients would continue receiving the same quality of care at its hospitals and other healthcare facilities, the company said.

The restructuring combines voluntary separation offers with other employment separations, following practices in each market. Employees leaving the group will receive severance packages and career assistance that IHH says go beyond local legal requirements.

How Large Is the Reduction?

The estimate of 380 departures comes from applying IHH's stated reduction of approximately 0.5 per cent to its workforce of 76,000. In simple terms, that is about one departure for every 200 employees across the group. The percentage uses the group's total workforce, while the announced departures concern offices in three markets.

IHH operates 190 healthcare facilities across 10 countries, including 89 hospitals. Its network extends beyond Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia to countries including India, Türkiye and China.

The company has not disclosed how the departures will be divided among the three markets, which individual business support functions will lose positions, how many employees will move into redesigned roles, the amounts of severance payments or a completion date. Its spokesperson declined to give further details about separation arrangements, citing employee privacy.

Why IHH Is Changing Its Support Operations

IHH describes the consolidation as part of a wider transformation intended to make business processes more consistent, improve efficiency and support growth. Bringing support services together is meant to reduce differences in how work is handled across its network and direct resources toward activities with the greatest benefit for patients.

Business support services are the internal operations that help an organisation function, rather than the clinical work of diagnosing and treating patients. The announced changes focus on that support structure, with some jobs being redesigned and others ending.

Prem Kumar Nair, IHH's group chief executive officer, said the decision was not taken lightly. He pointed to advances in technology, growing healthcare needs and rising patient expectations as reasons the organisation needed to change how it works.

The company's stated aim is to build an organisation that can adapt more readily while continuing to provide care over the long term. For employees in the affected offices, that strategy has immediate consequences: some will need to adjust to different responsibilities, while others will need to find work elsewhere.

An Infosys Technology Project Runs Alongside the Changes

IHH announced a partnership with business and technology consulting firm Infosys in June to develop a new enterprise resource planning system powered by artificial intelligence. The project will standardise and connect business processes across its markets, beginning with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, the same three markets covered by the support services consolidation.

Infosys announced the collaboration as a multi-year, enterprise-wide ERP transformation programme intended to streamline operations, improve agility and scalability, optimise costs and strengthen regulatory compliance. Infosys Topaz, powered by generative and agentic AI, will support IHH's core business workflows.

An enterprise resource planning system, usually called ERP, brings business information and workflows into a shared software platform. For a group operating in several countries, a common system can help teams use consistent procedures rather than maintain separate ways of doing similar work.

The new system will consolidate IHH's separate legacy ERP systems and integrate finance, procurement, supply chain, human capital management and enterprise performance management. The programme is intended to give IHH greater real-time data visibility and support faster, insight-led decision-making through a centralised digital foundation.

IHH said the consolidation and ERP rollout would create a more integrated operating foundation, support hospital continuity and give business teams greater consistency. The platform is also intended to accommodate future growth as the group expands.

The technology project and the staffing changes therefore form two parts of the company's plan to reorganise support operations: a common platform for business processes and a changed structure for the people carrying them out.

What Patients and Hospitals Are Being Told

IHH's assurance to patients is that clinical services and the people delivering care will remain unaffected. The company said healthcare professionals and teams dealing directly with patients are outside the scope of the changes.

In Singapore, the group's four hospitals are Gleneagles Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital and Parkway East Hospital. Parkway, Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth are among its brands in the country.

For people receiving treatment at those facilities, IHH's stated position is that care will continue unchanged while the business support organisation is consolidated. The company also says its ERP programme is intended to support continuity at its hospitals as internal processes become more integrated.

IHH links the restructuring to its broader aim of putting resources toward patient priorities and building a sustainable healthcare operation. The immediate promise to patients concerns continuity of care, while the changes to jobs and responsibilities are concentrated in the offices supporting that care.

What Departing Employees Will Receive

IHH said employees leaving the organisation would receive support beyond local statutory requirements. This includes improved severance packages, immediate access to career transition and outplacement assistance, and a confidential channel for feedback and help.

Outplacement assistance helps people prepare for work outside their current employer. The support described for IHH workers includes career guidance, CV preparation, advice on starting a business, emotional support and advice on developing skills.

IHH addressed the effect on employees and their households in its statement:

"IHH is committed to helping staff and their families, ensuring they have access to practical support and resources throughout this transition, with care and respect at every step," it said.

Workers moving into redesigned roles face a different transition from those leaving. They will remain within the organisation, but their responsibilities will change as support services are brought together. Departing employees will instead receive financial and practical assistance intended to help them move into their next stage of employment.

The Union's Role in Severance and Job Searches

SMMWU represents workers at IHH subsidiaries Parkway Hospitals Singapore and Parkway Laboratory Services. Tay said union representatives were present on site to answer questions, engage affected members and workers, and provide support.

The union said it was working with IHH to secure fair severance in line with the collective agreement. A collective agreement sets out employment terms negotiated between an employer and a union, giving represented workers an agreed basis for matters such as employment benefits and separation arrangements.

SMMWU also cited Singapore's Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment. The advisory provides guidance for employers handling excess staffing and job reductions. The union said it was seeking fair treatment for affected workers in accordance with that guidance.

Affected Singaporeans and permanent residents will also be connected with NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute. The institute can provide job matching, career coaching and advice on upgrading skills, extending the assistance beyond the severance process into the search for another job.

Key Dates and Commitments to Business Partners

IHH's announcements place the staffing exercise within a sequence that began with its technology partnership. The main developments are:

• June: IHH announced its partnership with Infosys to develop an ERP system powered by artificial intelligence, starting with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
• November 4: IHH announced the consolidation of business support services. Tay said affected workers were informed that day.
• November 5: Tay outlined the union's involvement, including advance consultation, work on severance arrangements and help for affected employees.

Suppliers, partners and vendors have been told that business operations and existing contractual arrangements will remain unchanged. IHH said any future changes would be communicated in a timely and transparent manner.

IHH has its primary listing on Bursa Malaysia and a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange. Its consolidation reaches across three markets, but the company's commitments address different groups directly: continuity of care for patients, unchanged existing arrangements for business partners, and severance and employment support for departing staff.

Key Points

• About 380 employees are expected to leave IHH across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, equivalent to approximately 0.5 per cent of its total workforce.
• Some employees will move into redesigned roles as business support services are consolidated.
• IHH says clinical services, healthcare professionals and teams dealing directly with patients are unaffected.
• The changes accompany an ERP project with Infosys, beginning in the same three markets.
• Departing workers will receive severance and career assistance that IHH says exceed local legal requirements.
• SMMWU is working on fair separation arrangements and connecting eligible workers with employment support.