Generali to сut 800 jobs in Germany

Italian insurance group Generali plans to undertake a major restructuring of its business in Germany, cutting around 800 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, over the next four years.

According to Report, citing Bild newspaper, the reorganisation will involve closing the company"s branches in Aachen, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. Employees at these offices will be transferred to other regional units.

Generali plans to concentrate its operations in Germany in five cities: Munich, Cologne, Karlsruhe, Hamburg and Saarbrücken.

The group"s German subsidiary currently employs around 9,100 people. Management expects to carry out the cuts largely without compulsory redundancies, relying instead on part-time work programmes for employees approaching retirement age, scheduled retirements, natural staff turnover and voluntary termination agreements.

Generali said the job cuts were linked to major investments in digitalisation, new technologies and the adoption of artificial intelligence, which are expected to boost productivity. According to Bild, the company will invest hundreds of millions of euros in these areas.

Some support functions are also expected to be outsourced to external contractors.

"We want to make the transformation process predictable through early communication and guarantees that jobs and existing business units will be maintained until the end of 2030," said Generali HR Director Arne Benzin.

The company"s management is discussing the specific terms of the programme with the works council.

The restructuring of Generali"s German operations is part of the group"s global strategy to streamline business processes, accelerate automation and develop its most profitable insurance segments.

According to Generali Germany CEO Stefan Lehmann, the planned changes will create the conditions for further profitable growth and improve the quality of services provided to customers and partners.