FBD Insurance’s Dungarvan and Waterford offices are to merge to form a county base at its Ardkeen offices, as part of nationwide cost-cutting initiative.
A company spokesperson told The Munster Express the move will not necessarily mean job losses
for its Dungarvan workers, since the 150-staff reduction planned throughout the group will hopefully be achieved through voluntary redundancies.
It will be a ‘personal choice’ whether those workers in Dungarvan take redundancy or move to the newly expanded Waterford city office, the spokesperson said. However trade union Unite, which represents 330 of the 350 workers in the FBD Insurance local office network, said the announcement was a ‘real blow to staff, especially coming at this time of year’.
Challenge
“The main challenge now is to see how the changes can be accommodated while protecting the interests of loyal staff who have worked hard down the years at building the presence and profile of FBD in local communities across the country”, Unite spokesperson said.
Review of operations
The Dungarvan closure is one of 13 by the company, decided upon after a recent review of operations initiated as a result of major changes in the way customers are buying insurance, with over 70% of car and home insurance customers now using the telephone or Internet. The company said it was entering a consultative process with staff and representative bodies immediately.
