AXA group CEO Thomas Buberl is hoping that his five-year transformation plan for the insurance giant will not lead to massive job cuts, saying the insurer’s focus is on retraining employees for future growth.
In June 2016, Buberl revealed his Ambition 2020 strategy, which aims to speed up business transformation to meet evolving customer expectations in the digital age. The plan also aims to generate €2.1 billion (about £1.8 billion) in savings by cutting costs.
Buberl’s turnaround plan is off to a good start this year with
revenues passing €100 billion for the first time and net profits increasing to €5.8 billion. The insurance boss, however, admits that the cost-cutting part of his transformation strategy has shaken employees with fears of potential job cuts.
“The hardest part of the job is to motivate the staff for the transformation, because often transformation is being seen as something negative,” Buberl was quoted as saying by The Telegraph after the release of its 2016 financial results last month.
According to the publication, Buberl did not reveal the number of jobs that will be lost as part of the transformation plan.
“I really hope not many jobs will be lost,” Buberl was quoted as saying. He also reportedly said that by expanding into new areas, “my wish would be that in 10 years there is more employment in insurance than there is today.”
Buberl said the business overhaul is focused on retraining staff, particularly for the digital age, with employees expected to gain new skills such as engaging with customers through social media.
“We have reserved a large budget to retrain our staff and to really make our staff successful in the transformation,” Buberl told The Telegraph.
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