BUSINESS

More Northwestern Mutual employees lose jobs

Paul Gores

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More employees of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. lost their jobs at the company's corporate offices Friday.

Layoffs are continuing at Milwaukee's Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.

A company spokeswoman said she did not have information on how many left their jobs at the Milwaukee-based insurer on Friday, but stressed it was part of a “transformation” of Northwestern Mutual that includes more focus on technology-related skills.

The company has said it expects to lay off “hundreds” of employees in 2017, but has declined to say the total number being eliminated.

Last year, Northwestern Mutual had about 5,900 employees at its downtown and suburban Franklin campuses.

“I think it’s important to remember that what’s happening here at Northwestern Mutual is a process,” said spokeswoman Betsy Hoylman. “Evaluations take place based on business needs, decisions are made. Then we have conversations with the impacted employees.”

Hoylman said jobs that are being eliminated come from “several departments” at both of the company’s campuses.

“Since today is the end of the month, many of the impacted employees have chosen this as their last day,” Hoylman said Friday.

She said job cuts will occur over time, not as a one-time event.

“This is a transformation,” Hoylman said. “We are eliminating some jobs but we’re also hiring for the skills that we need. As a matter of fact, we are actively recruiting for about 100 open positions right now, many of them in the tech space.”

Hiring at Northwestern Mutual could include what the company terms “offsite partners” who possess technology skills it seeks.

“As we have been doing all along, we will continue to communicate with our employees and offer generous support, including a standard separation agreement, as these difficult decisions are made,” Hoylman said. “We said last year that the number of jobs eliminated this year would be in the hundreds, and that remains accurate.”

When it disclosed the coming layoffs late last summer, Northwestern Mutual said it was trying to manage its operating costs to help cope with a long-running low interest rate environment that has squeezed earnings. Low interest rates make it more difficult for insurers to grow earnings because insurance companies invest premiums from policy owners mostly in relatively safe investments tied to rates.

In 2016, Northwestern Mutual, which is constructing a $450 million office skyscraper and a nearby $100 million residential tower in downtown Milwaukee, posted record revenue of $28.2 billion. But the company pared its dividend payout to policy owners to $5.2 billion from $5.6 billion in 2015.