Around 100 workers in QBE’s Melbourne office were expected to be notified last week they would be affected by the company’s offshoring plans, insuranceNEWS.com.au understands.

But the company is yet to reveal details on Melbourne jobs to be offshored.

The news comes after up to 150 Sydney staff members were notified their jobs would be offshored.

QBE CEO John Neal has confirmed plans to offshore jobs from its Australian, North American and European operations to the Philippines as part if its operational transformation program.

Media reports of around 700 jobs affected are “in the ballpark”, he says.

A demonstration against offshoring was held outside QBE’s Melbourne office last week, attended by around 50 protesters from various insurers, banks and unions.

Representatives from the Finance Sector Union addressed the crowd.

“[QBE has] made a profit of nearly a billion dollars in the last year alone,” Victorian State Secretary Darren Martin said. “Is that enough for them? No.”

“Don’t let anybody pretend that this is about better customer service or efficiency,” National Secretary Leon Carter said. “The people in QBE right now do their jobs fantastically well.”

One QBE employee spoke about his and his colleagues’ fears for their jobs.

“I like working here,” he said. “But what they’re doing at the moment, it is creating a lot of fear and making people uncomfortable about the future.

“People are worried about their job security.”