Tower Insurance will soon close its Rotorua office. Photo / 123rf
Tower Insurance has confirmed work will be “redistributed” to its employees in Auckland and Fiji as it closes its Rotorua office.
The Rotorua Daily Post reported last month Tower’s plans to close its Rotorua office, affecting about 50 jobs.
Tower chief executive Paul Johnston said at the time it had proposed about 29 office-based contact centre staff in Rotorua be offered options including redundancy or roles based in Auckland.
About 20 technical team members would be offered the option to work from home permanently, he said.
Johnston said the proposed changes were part of Tower’s ongoing digital transformation and ”focus on delivering excellent customer service, improving efficiency, and streamlining our operations”.
In a February 17 statement, Johnston said Tower had confirmed changes to its operating model following consultation, but it was “too early to outline specific changes”.
“Our people first need the opportunity to express interest in the roles we are offering or take redundancy.
“We recognise this period of change may be difficult for some of our people, and we are committed to supporting them throughout.”
Johnston said this included access to career development and wellbeing services, support to take any other redeployment opportunities within the business, and relocation assistance if applicable.
“While our physical presence is changing, we remain committed to Rotorua and will continue to support customers across the region through our digital and telephone service channels.”
Callum Francis , Workers First Union national organiser for finance, said it represented impacted Tower Insurance Rotorua employees.
Francis told the Rotorua Daily Post Tower Insurance was “offshoring and centralising a number of their roles” to Fiji and Auckland.
“The entire Rotorua office is being disestablished with more than 50% of the staff losing their jobs.
“What I know from our roles that are being affected is that half of them are going to, at least, under this proposal, find themselves without work.”
He understood the changes would come into effect in “a month or two”.
Francis said Tower had a “significant footprint in New Zealand” but, in his view, it was not showing “the expected level of social responsibility or loyalty” to the country, especially in the regions.
He said companies could “extract money out of New Zealanders and then ship work overseas or automate work instead of improving and investing in decent work and more jobs within local communities”.
Francis said the Rotorua workers had not known about the changes for long.
In his view: “Tower needs to step up and slow down the process so that workers can focus on remaining employed or finding other employment so that they aren’t punished and disadvantaged because of Tower’s decisions and [its] rush to shut down operations in Rotorua.”
One example could be offering affected workers a fixed-term contract, he said.
The Rotorua Daily Post put the union’s comments to Tower.
On Wednesday, Johnston said Tower’s operational presence in New Zealand comprised its Auckland head office and a small office in Rotorua, which would soon close.
He said the changes stemmed from Tower’s “digital transformation, improved efficiency, and processes” reducing “overall workload”.
“While some work will be redistributed across our existing teams in Auckland and Suva, and other responsibilities will be picked up by new roles created in Auckland, no new roles are being created in Suva as a result of these changes.”
Johnston said Tower had had a presence in Fiji for more than 150 years and it was “a proud Kiwi and Pacific business”.
“All members of our Fiji team are Tower employees and an integral part of our team, and we operate as one organisation across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, with consistent training, benefits, terms and conditions, and competitive pay, for all our people.”
Johnston said it was still too early to outline specific changes, including for the number of Rotorua staff who would no longer work for Tower.
Staff needed the opportunity to express interest in Auckland-based roles, redundancy, or stay with Tower while working from home in Rotorua, he said.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.