How can SingPost win back investor trust post high profile terminations?

After making headlines around the terminations of its senior leadership, Singapore's postal service provider Singapore Post (SingPost) has appointed Neo Su Yin as the company's group chief operating officer (GCOO). Neo joined SingPost in April 2019 as vice president of customer experience and was appointed chief executive officer in November 2021.

At the same time, Isaac Mah, current chief financial officer of SingPost's Australia business Freight Management Holdings (FMH), will return to Singapore to take up the GCFO position. Gan Heng, current head of South District Internation Business Unit at SingPost, has been appointed as acting CEO-IBU. 

The move comes after its group chief executive officer (GCEO), group chief financial officer (GCFO), and chief executive officer of its international business unit operations (CEO-IBU) were asked to leave following an investigation into the mishandling of a whistleblowing report.

The whistleblowing report allegedly said that SingPost's international e-commerce logistics parcel business manually entered delivery status codes without basis or supporting documentation, with the intention of avoiding contractual penalties with one of its biggest customers.  The termination took immediate effect on 21 December last year. 

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In a response to stakeholders, SingPost added that the manipulation of the delivery statues was intended to avoid the payment of contractual penalties to the relevant customer. The termination took immediate effect on 21 December last year.

Simon Israel, chairman of the Board, SingPost said the termination of senior management was a carefully considered decision by the Board, based on established facts and supported legal advice. "This decision reflects the Board's unwavering commitment to governance principles, prioritising what is right, even when it is more challenging in the short term, in the best interests of the company," he added. 

A look into SingPost's brand reputation

Clearly the move to establish new leadership and rid those involved in the mishandling of the report was to ensure SingPost's brand reputation stays in tact.  According to media intelligence CARMA, SingPost's sentiments currently stand at 5.2% positive and 49.9% negative after the terminations. It was previously 39.2% positive and 12.7% negative.

CARMA noted that netizens praised the whistleblowers involved in the incident, and voiced concerns on the lack of press investigations and coverage on the matter.  Analysis also revealed that SingPost's net mentions peaked on 22 December at 700 and plummeted days after. However, net mentions saw a slight uptick just before the New Year's when SingPost released a detailed timeline of events leading up to the terminations. 

Prior to the terminations, SingPost's word cloud appeared neutral and included words such as "opportunities" and "potential", according to CARMA. 

However, after the terminations, SingPost's word cloud included a few negative terms such as "unfair", "failed" and "misconduct".

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Edwin Yeo, general manager at Strategic Public Relations Group, said that from the everyday consumer's point of view, the incident is unlikely to have affected the service delivery., but where the real impact might be is in investor relations as share prices were initially affected due to the sudden sackings.

"If the fundamentals of SingPost remains strong, its share price should recover over time as investor confidence returns. Engaging with the investor watchdog SIAS is the right move to assure transparency and proper governance," he added

Pamela Tor Das, vice president, Singapore and emerging markets at TEAM LEWIS added that corporate governance has been increasingly critical in the eyes of the public though the current situation with SingPost "seems more akin to a double-edged sword". While the organisation appears to have demonstrated a strong audit and governance process, confidence level has fallen as seen in investors’ reactions.

"The management team is often a reflection of an organisation’s culture and the situation no doubt has rattled its corporate reputation. This is further impacted as those affected have stated plans to seek legal recourse and with SIAS stepping forward to comment on the suddenness of the announcement and need for independent inquiry – suggesting doubts in the process," she added.

Das believes that further discourse is likely to occur and right now the main concern for Sing Post is to regain investor confidence and rebuild brand reputation, which relies on the organisation’s transparency of communications and willingness to partake in necessary investigations.

Will the common man care?

SingPost as the country's largest postal service with a long history has not found itself in any controversy of this scale in public memory so it has definitely created a concern for both business stakeholders and man on the street, explained Asiya Bakht, founder of Beets Public Relations. As such, in the short term, the company’s reputation will be affected due to the media circus created by the firing of three executives.

“The fact that these executives in question have denied the allegations and watchdogs have asked for an independent probe signals to this issue being dragged on in media,” she said. However, like with all such controversies, after the initial interest has died, the people on the street would only care about the service delivery.

Charu Srivastava, co-founder and chief strategy officer and corporate affairs lead, TriOn & Co, added that while the recent appointment of Neo as COO in a newly created role is a start to rebuilding its reputation, but at the end of the day, more needs to be done to instill confidence in the leadership.

“The hires they make need to lead the charge in rebuilding reputation,” she said. Moreover, the new leadership needs to be open about their strategy and values in leading SingPost.

“The next few months will be a testing time. The transparency they have shown to-date needs to continue together with open, intentional and direct communications. Genuine communications efforts will go a long way in salvaging the reputation,” she said, adding that it goes without saying that there should not be any drop in service standards while the leadership situation is being remedied.

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