Genworth denies job fears

GENWORTH Financial has denied there is substance to speculation of imminent redundancies at their Shannon plant.
It is widely believed in Shannon that the company has lost a major contract with Barclays, which has been important to it since 1997, when it was known as Consolidated Financial Insurance.
A spokesman for the company told The Clare Champion that the company is actually growing in Shannon. “We have hired 31 new people this year and we have 16 new roles to fill. We have also had some redundancies at Shannon also but these would amount to less than one per cent of all employees.”
He claimed jobs are not under threat. “I don’t agree with that, it doesn’t mirror what is happening. I’m not going to get into confidential arrangements with clients but I can tell you that many other customers are served from Shannon. We have announced some changes to the relationship but we have said we will transfer all those involved into other roles.”
He said Genworth would be bringing more business into Shannon and that there is “certainly no cause for alarm”. The spokesman also said the company has adopted “a transparent and proactive approach” in its dealings with its employees.
According to the recently published Shannon Development Annual Report for 2010, Genworth Financial received grants of €179,378 last year and has received total payments of €5,232,978.
Last year, the then Enterprise Minister Batt O’Keeffe came to Shannon, where he made an announcement that Genworth would create up to 117 new jobs over three years.
At the time, the president of Genworth Financial’s European operations, Bob Brannock, said, “We are focussed on growth and delighted to be expanding operations at our Shannon Free Zone centre of excellence. Our highly skilled teams in Shannon have played a vital role in helping families create financial security through this economic cycle. As we grow into new geographies and enhance the capabilities we offer to our distributors, we will need to build teams and develop our people so we continue to deliver outstanding levels of service.”
Genworth Financial is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genworth Financial Inc, a Fortune 500 company based in Virginia in the US, with operations in more than 25 countries.