I have been at Manulife for ten years. Over the past few weeks I have seen a number of good people getting laid-off including a handful of AVPs and a number of managers I had the pleasure to work with. There is a Manulife operations team in Toronto that is slowly being eliminated as the work is moved to Manila. Most of John Hancock claims area have already 'in-sourced' their operations to Manila and I suspect other areas will be moving there as well. A number of process and accounting jobs at the Canadian division are being moved to Waterloo while at the same time other jobs in Waterloo are being moved to Manila. Certain systems reporting in some areas have been moved to a growing John Hancock operation in India. Try reaching tech support and you'll reach Argentina where IT support for Manulife is outsourced.
Many would have thought that this E&E would remove deadwood within the company to create a truly effective and efficient organization as we keep hearing but the reality is that many good men and women are being laid-off. To make matters worse those in charge have chosen to keep some truly bad apples and, even worse, promote some. Those who are either incompetent at their jobs or are incapable of managing people - some excel at both - are still around. I am convinced that good people with integrity are not what Manulife wants as leaders. One must be ruthless and devoid of any morals to move up and be part of this leadership team.
The execution of this E&E will prove to be a total fiasco. It's been about six months now that Manulife employees have been living in fear not knowing what tomorrow will bring. A number of good people (including a handful of brilliant talents) have already left the company for greener pastures instead of waiting for the axe to fall. A couple of older individuals have resigned due to stress as they can no longer cope working at Manulife. Many more are looking elsewhere in fear that they'll be next. Morale is certainly at its lowest point that I've seen in my ten years.
One has to wonder if de-mutualization of Manulife was actually a wise thing. It certainly made Mr. D'Alessandro and his executive team extremely wealthy individuals. What was once a member-owned mutual company is now being run to maximize profit for its shareholders and bonuses for company executives. Don't be fool. The MFC shares you and I partake in do not even make up for the dividends Mr. Guloien earns from his shares. If you think your 5-15% bonus is a good share of the profit then you have no idea how much VPs and higher ups make.
I still have my job for now but, like many others, I am looking to get out. What's unfortunate is that I actually enjoy doing what I do but this whole E&E circus has made me realized that Manulife is not a company I am proud of any more. Instead of investing in people, the many Americans and Canadians who have devoted many years building this company, its leaders have chosen to sell-out in order to add a few extra millions in the next quarter.
And remember, HR does not exist for your interest but to protect the interest of the company. Start reading up on labour laws.
Good luck.
ANON MANURE