Transamerica to lay off 120 in Cedar Rapids
December 6, 2016 by Chelsea Keenan
Transamerica announced Thursday that it will lay off about 120 of its 3,000 employees in its Cedar Rapids locations — part of the life insurance company’s “strategic plan to increase returns.”
In addition to the Cedar Rapids cuts, the company plans to close its offices in Los Angeles and Folsom, Calif., and West Chester, Ohio, over the course of 2017 as well as lay off another 680 people companywide.
“These are not easy decisions, and we are keenly aware of the impact these actions will have on our employees and their families,” said Gregory Tucker, senior vice president of public affairs, in an emailed statement. “For this reason, we will be offering separation benefits for eligible employees, including outplacement services.”
Tucker said limiting the number of offices and eliminating those positions will help Transamerica, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based AEGON, be more efficient and invest in technology.
“Additional efforts have focused on enhancing returns through operational efficiencies, a rationalized and optimized portfolio, and a highly disciplined approach to expense management,” he said.
Aegon’s third-quarter earnings, released Nov. 10, reported underlying pretax profit of 461 million euros, or about $504 million — down 7 percent from 495 million euros in the same period a year ago, according to Reuters. That was slightly better than analysts forecasts.
Transamerica announced in August it would relocate some 1,300 employees from its Edgewood Road NE offices to 6300 C Street SW, the former Hibu space, in early 2018. At the time, Tucker said the move was part of the company’s “corporate reorganization to reduce costs and improve efficiency.”