MetLife, the world’s largest life insurance company which already is adding workers in Cary and Charlotte, could be sending more employees to North Carolina from New York, according to The New York Post.
Citing “an e-mail from a high-ranking executive to a colleague,” The Post said as many as 6,000 jobs could be involved.
“The plans largely hit back-office IT employees, many of them based in New York and New Jersey,” the paper added, citing the email.
Transfers would be made to help the company lower costs with transferred workers’ compensation being reduced, the Post said.
However, MetLife (NYSE: MET) executives disputed that number. They did concerned that if a decision is made to move jobs, transfers “would amount to roughly a few hundred,” the paper reported.
Asked about the story, an executive involved in Triangle economic development said: “You know what we know.”
MetLife employs some 65,000 people.
In a statement to The Post, MetLife spokesman Christopher Stern noted:
“MetLife continually evaluates its real estate footprint to ensure we are delivering excellent customer service and can meet our long-term goals.
“In 2013 we announced that 2,300 positions from a number of locations across the US would relocate to Charlotte and Raleigh, NC. Those moves are well under way, and we have nothing further to announce.”
MetLife is under pressure from federal regulators to reduce costs based on a recommendation by the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The company is fighting the designation.
