Great-West to cut 1,500 jobs over two years, part of business transformation

About two-thirds of the savings will be from the workforce reduction, and the rest primarily from reduced IT spending with some real estate savings.

About 1,000 of the job cuts will happen this year with the remaining 500 positions to be eliminated more gradually throughout 2018 and early 2019.

At the same time, the company will continue to hire people who have the required skills.

About 450 positions will be cut in Winnipeg, where Great West Life is among the city’s major private-sector employers.

“Seeing any layoffs occur with any company is always a setback,” Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said.

“I know that it’s not an easy thing to do in the short term — for anyone — to experience job loss, but it is important to understand that this is a company that has been employing tens of thousands of Manitobans … for a long time and that it’s making decisions it feels are necessary to compete.”

Among other things, Great-West has updated its GroupNet online portal for health claim submissions and created an app for customers to track retirement savings across financial institutions.

Great-West is also a co-investor in Portage Investments — which includes the WealthSimple robo-adviser business in its portfolio of financial technology companies.

But Mahon said there’s no plan to reduce its commitment to distributing products through various channels, including its network of associated advisers.

To reach its targets, Great-West says will reduce its temporary workforce, offer a voluntary retirement program and a severance program.

The initiative will reduce Great-West’s earnings in this year’s second quarter by $127 million after taxes, or 13 cents per share.

— By David Paddon in Toronto, with files from Steve Lambert in Winnipeg

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Great-West to cut 1,500 jobs over two years, part of business transformation

Our Community