Allstate Layoffs 2020: Thousands Cut Under Cost-Saving Restructuring Plan

Insurer Allstate Corp. (ALL) is laying off about 3,800 workers as it looks to further restructure its business operations.

The layoffs will primarily affect employees in Allstate’s claims, sales, services, and support units. The move is designed to lower costs and will also affect a series of offices that will also be closed. The cuts affect about 8% of Allstate’s workforce of about 46,000 employees it had at the end of 2019, Bloomberg reported.

Allstate has undergone a multi-year transformation plan that started in 2019. In June, Allstate announced that thousands of jobs would be slashed, saying that more news on the cuts would be coming.

As part of its restructuring, Allstate said it is looking to increase personal property-liability market share. To do so, the company plans to invest in new technology and marketing of the Allstate brand, Bloomberg said.

Allstate also said it will combine its Allstate, Esurance, Encompass, and Answer Financial brands into one business unit, which Wilson told Bloomberg would “create a more competitive auto-insurance price. We needed to lower costs so we could still earn an attractive return.”

The company was also one of several auto insurers that returned a portion of premiums to insurance holders as drivers stayed off the road during stay-at-home orders issued during the coronavirus pandemic.

Wilson told the news outlet that the shift toward less driving has meant that fewer employees are needed as fewer accidents are occurring.

“This is a big first step, but this is not the end of our need to continue to reduce costs,” Wilson said. “We’ll be reducing costs for three or four years. There’s a lot of work we have to do.”

Allstate purchased National General Holdings Corp. in a $4 billion deal in July, its largest acquisition to date, which is expected to close in early 2021. The purchase would add about 9,000 employees to Allstate’s workforce.

Shares of Allstate were trading at $93.14 as of 12:14 p.m. EDT, down $1 or 1.06%.