Aviva Australia escapes fate of UK counterpart
A decision by Aviva UK subsidiary Norwich Union to axe 1100 jobs within its life insurance operations has no bearing on Aviva Australia’s life operations, the company says. But it does have a hiring freeze in place.
Norwich Union is nearing completion of a three-year project in the UK to simplify operations and improve efficiency. The majority of redundancies affect business change and IT positions.
Departing staff will go by the end of the year while a further 590 UK contract positions will be terminated in the next few months.
Aviva Australia spokesman Tim Cobb says the local subsidiary will maintain an existing hiring freeze rather than cut jobs.
“Life insurance is growing really strongly at the moment and there’s been some movement from the investment to the life side – but we haven’t altered the headcount freeze implemented in the middle of last year,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.
Aviva Australia employs about 800 local staff and Mr Cobb estimates about 50 staff have departed the business through natural attrition since the freeze on new hires began.
Norwich Union is nearing completion of a three-year project in the UK to simplify operations and improve efficiency. The majority of redundancies affect business change and IT positions.
Departing staff will go by the end of the year while a further 590 UK contract positions will be terminated in the next few months.
Aviva Australia spokesman Tim Cobb says the local subsidiary will maintain an existing hiring freeze rather than cut jobs.
“Life insurance is growing really strongly at the moment and there’s been some movement from the investment to the life side – but we haven’t altered the headcount freeze implemented in the middle of last year,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.
Aviva Australia employs about 800 local staff and Mr Cobb estimates about 50 staff have departed the business through natural attrition since the freeze on new hires began.