Insurance brokerage firm Aon Corp. said last week it would lay off 550 workers at its facilities in New York, Texas and Maryland.
Aon spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said the Chicago-based company was consolidating its “administrative support functions” performed in New York and Houston to a site in Glenview, Ill.
The company also will eliminate 50 jobs at its accounting facility in Owings Mills, Md.
As part of the consolidation, Johnson said 50 new positions would be created in Glenview.
Johnson said the layoffs were in keeping with a restructuring plan Aon announced in 2005, but did not specify if the job cuts were part of that plan or a later addition.
Mark Lane, an analyst with Chicago’s William Blair and Co., said the impact of the layoffs might depend on whether they were part of the restructuring plan, or represented deeper cuts than originally planned.
“It’s hard to say right now — rather ambiguous,” Lane said. “Since 2005, we have always expected their formal expense savings efforts to increase, so it’s a question of whether these layoffs go above and beyond that.”
About 800 people work at the Glenview site. Before the announced layoffs, there were about 1,000 employees in New York, 550 in Houston and 150 at Owings Mills.
Aon shares fell 3 cents to $34.67 in trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
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