Manulife set to cut 700 jobs, close Kitchener office

Manulife is planning to eliminate around 700 jobs in Canada across a span of 18 months as it seeks to reduce costs and combine various portions of the business.

Currently, the insurer and financial service provider employs a national workforce of more than 13,000 people.

In a news release on June 21, 2018, Manulife said staff reductions will be focused on their customer experience and administrative teams, where it aims to introduce digital processes to customer interaction.

“We are transforming our business to become a customer-centric market leader, which includes a focus on digital innovation and operational efficiency to ensure we remain competitive and make it easier for customers to do business with us,” said Michael Doughty, President and CEO of Manulife Canada.

The company is also closing its office in Kitchener, Ontario and create one Canadian division headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario.

Manulife added that it plans on retraining some of the affected employees.

Termination agreements for Manulife employees

As part of the layoff announcement, Manulife has indicated that the company will offer buyout packages to staff as part of their “voluntary exit program.”

However, Canadian employees could be entitled to more compensation than the buyout packages specify.

In Canada, non-unionized employees and senior executives at Manulife are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing or corporate restructuring.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

READ MORE
• Severance packages in mass layoffs
• Rights to severance for provincially regulated employees
• Severance pay for federally regulated employees

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains why you are still owed severance if you have been downsized on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper compensation if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you aren’t given the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.