Mario Greco, CEO of global insurer Zurich, knows how to cut operating costs. Outsourcing isn’t an option.
Mario Greco plans to further increase the dividend he pays his shareholders. To do so, he needs to increase profit at the firm, he told «NZZ am Sonntag» in an interview (behind paywall). Zurich Insurance will continue to pay out 75 percent of its profit and it had a firm plan for how it will boost profit.
Greco won’t, however, cut his workforce. Zurich Insurance stopped outsourcing two years ago and moved many administrative tasks back to Zurich since, he told the newspaper.
A Destabilizing Factor
Greco, a native of Naples, evidently disagrees with many of his colleagues at major finance firms. He firmly believes that outsourcing isn’t sustainable socially. First, you move from Switzerland to Eastern Europe, then from Eastern Europe to Asia and on and on. That way, companies destabilized whole regions, while eliminating jobs back home: «The whole thing is simply a bad idea,» Greco said.
It is far from clear whether Zurich Insurance actually had profited from relocating jobs. Our staff have to travel more, you have a lesser control and staff fluctuation at such outsourcing firms was high, he added.
