Aviva cuts jobs in UK
Aviva Group will cut 1,100 permanent jobs from its UK operations in the next few months.
It is also slashing 590 contract positions as the economy falters in the UK.
The jobs will be cut from its Norwich Union Life business in four regional centres in the UK, including its traditional home Norwich.
Aviva said the cuts were the result of three years of projects to simplify operations and improve efficiency.
“As this work nears completion, the number of roles in the business will reduce,” the company said in a statement.
“The majority of these roles are in business change and IT and the remainder are spread across other areas of the business.”
By the end of 2009, Norwich Union Life will have about 800 employees in the UK, chief executive Mark Hodges said.
“We have made significant progress in improving our operational efficiency and are also nearing completion on a series of major change projects,” he said.
“Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable.”
The UK move is in contrast to the Australian operations where chief executive officer Allan Griffiths has said there will be no foreseeable redundancies in the future, although it has a freeze on recruitment at present.
In a separate move on the same day in the UK, Swiss Re announced it was cutting its global workforce by 10 per cent.
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