'Microsoft-sponsored holiday': Singapore workers scramble to cope with global outage

Singapore

Workers turn to alternative communication channels or put tasks on hold, while students face disruptions to exam preparations as a global Microsoft outage stretches beyond 12 hours.

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13 Nov 2026 06:43PM

SINGAPORE: A global Microsoft outage disrupted workplaces, educational institutions and government agencies across Singapore on Friday (Nov 13), leaving users unable to access Outlook and other applications.

Some workers turned to messaging apps and other workarounds to stay connected, while others postponed tasks and meetings or braced for a backlog of work once services were restored. 

The disruption also affected government systems and email services at major banks, although essential services and healthcare operations remained unaffected. 

Microsoft attributed the outage to some of its servers unexpectedly becoming unavailable, shifting the load to those still operating. 

The tech giant said that recovery efforts are ongoing, and that it is "seeing early signs of stabilisation".

However, it is still searching for a solution to restore its services globally.

For workers across Singapore, the outage disrupted daily routines, with some discovering the problem before the workday had even begun. 

Rahmat, a 36-year-old IT professional at a chemical plant, was first alerted to the disruption at 5.49am, when a colleague on the night shift reported being unable to access Outlook.

What initially appeared to be a "routine email troubleshooting request" turned out to be a much wider problem, he said, after checking Microsoft's service health dashboard.

"From an IT professional's perspective, there is also a certain helplessness when you establish that the underlying problem is happening at the service provider's end," he said. 

WORK SLOWS AS EMPLOYEES FIND WORKAROUNDS

When 24-year-old analyst Steven Chua logged into his work computer on Friday morning, he noticed something unusual. He had not received any emails since the previous night.

"I noticed that I could still access Outlook but there were no new messages since midnight, even though I usually get emails past midnight from people from other countries," he said.

While he could still communicate face-to-face with colleagues in Singapore, the disruption hampered his work with overseas teams. 

"We also get important alerts and announcements through email, so we would have missed out on any that happened in the morning," he added.

Others adjusted their schedules to work around the disruption. 

An engineer who wanted to be known only as Mr Teo spent the day focusing on individual tasks rather than replying to emails. 

The 31-year-old also used Microsoft Teams' chat function, which remained accessible to him, to share files and links with colleagues. 

Some employees had to reschedule meetings after the outage affected Microsoft Teams. 

A human resources executive told CNA that job interviews originally scheduled on Teams had to be moved to Zoom, while internal meetings were postponed to the following week. 

But even rescheduling proved difficult, as she was unable to email invitations to participants. 

Those away from work were not spared either. One employee on medical leave said she could not set an automatic out-of-office reply to inform colleagues of her absence. 

STUDENTS LOCKED OUT OF STUDY MATERIALS 

Some students were also affected, with some unable to access study materials ahead of their examinations. 

With an exam just four days away, National University of Singapore (NUS) law undergraduate Saw Yone Yone was unable to access lecture slides emailed to him by his professor after each lesson. 

He was also unable to use Microsoft Authenticator, leaving him locked out of several university websites and portals, including LexisNexis, which he uses to access legal cases on his prescribed reading lists, and his NUS library account.

"It's mildly annoying that I did not download all of my tutor's slides," he said.

Meanwhile, several Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) students told CNA they had received an SMS alert about the disruption.

The university said it was "working closely with Microsoft and will provide updates once services are restored".

GOVERNMENT EMAIL DISRUPTED, ESSENTIAL SERVICES UNAFFECTED 

In Singapore, the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) on Friday afternoon said several government systems, including email, had been affected by the outage. 

However, emergency services remained fully operational and Singpass was unaffected. 

In a statement to CNA, GovTech said: "For updates on e-services, please check the relevant agency’s official website or social media channels. The email disruption may delay responses to enquiries.

“For urgent matters, members of the public can contact the agency through other channels, such as its call centre."

The agency said public officers could continue using Microsoft Teams for internal communications. 

Employees in the public and civil service told CNA that the outage had slowed their work considerably.

"Our work is hampered as most things are done over email. Luckily, this happened on a Friday when the pace tends to be slower," said a communications officer at a statutory board, who declined to be named.

"If it were a Monday, we would have a large backlog of work."

The 31-year-old said managers had advised staff to take additional cybersecurity precautions, including avoiding suspicious links related to the outage and password reset requests sent through platforms such as Teams, WhatsApp and Outlook. 

Employees were also advised to turn on their cameras during online meetings and check for unidentified participants. 

Separately, the Ministry of Defence said the outage had not affected its operational systems.

"The Ministry of Defence and the Singapore Armed Forces' operational systems and readiness are not affected by the outage,” a spokesman said.

BANKS WARN OF DELAYED REPLIES; PATIENT CARE UNAFFECTED 

Singapore banks DBS, OCBC and UOB also reported email disruptions, with some advising customers to use alternative channels such as customer service hotlines.

In a recorded message on its customer service hotline, DBS said its email services had been affected and that replies could take longer than usual.

It advised customers to check transaction notifications through the DBS/POSB digibank app, while wealth clients were encouraged to contact their relationship managers. 

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused while Microsoft works to resolve the issue,” DBS said.

UOB also reported email connectivity issues in a Facebook post, advising customers with urgent enquiries or awaiting time-sensitive responses to contact their relationship managers by phone or call its customer service hotline. 

OCBC said its email services were similarly affected and advised customers to use alternative channels, including its contact centre hotline and relationship managers.

Meanwhile, healthcare providers said their operations and patient care services have not been interrupted.

National University Health System (NUHS) said that while email communication is disrupted, patients could still reach the healthcare group through its hotline, the live chat function on the NUHS App or individual health institutions' websites. 

"We are monitoring the situation closely with Synapxe, as Microsoft works to resolve the issue," said its spokesperson.

Singapore Paincare Holdings also reported disruptions to its internal systems and communications with patients who contacted them through Microsoft services like Outlook.

"Patients regularly contact our clinics directly or through our centralised call centre, which coordinates appointments and enquiries across our network of 12 GP (general practitioner) clinics and four specialist centres in Singapore," said its general manager and general counsel, Mr Billy Lau. 

He said its clinics remained open and continued to see patients.

The company's operations team also liaised with vendors and partners by phone and other channels to prevent disruptions to test orders, results and medical supplies. 

While the outage brought an unexpected lull to the working day for some, others were anticipating a backlog of unfinished tasks. 

Accountant Germaine Lee, 32, who was working from home, said she expected to put in extra hours once Outlook was restored. 

"I'm just having an extra coffee … and resting for now," she said. "It's not like my work will disappear anyway. I'll probably have to work overtime tonight since I can't get anything done until Microsoft Outlook is back up and running." 

For IT consultant Vaishnavi M, 27, the impact was more manageable as Microsoft Teams' chat function remained available.  

But the outage disrupted her team's usual workflow, in which users emailed IT issues so that everyone on the team could keep track of outstanding tasks.

"My colleagues and I joked around (and said) it’s a Microsoft-sponsored holiday," she said.

"We’re operating under the assumption it’ll be resolved before next week – if it doesn't (resolve) then I think it’ll be very difficult."

Source: CNA/lo(ca)