Wauwatosa-based insurance technology firm Zywave Inc. is moving 100 U.S. jobs to the Philippines as part of a plan for "smarter spending," the company said.
The restructuring impacts about 10% of the company's total workforce and is at least the second time in the past year that Zywave has made changes resulting in layoffs. Twenty-five jobs in southeast Wisconsin were impacted, Zywave marketing communications manager April Larsen said.
Zywave announced the latest restructuring to employees Monday. The news was first reported by BizTimes Media after former BizTimes reporter Alex Zank, who subsequently worked at Zywave, announced on social media that he had been among the Zywave employees laid off.
Larsen confirmed the news to the Milwaukee Business Journal and Wisconsin Inno. The company currently has nearly 1,000 employees globally, and there will be no change in the total headcount, she said.
Before the restructuring, Zywave’s Milwaukee workforce made up slightly more than 30% of its total global headcount, Larsen said. With the headcount shifts to the Philippines, that percentage drops to 27%.
The company plans to maintain its headquarters at 10100 W. Innovation Drive in Wauwatosa, Larsen said. Zywave entities have had an established presence in the Philippines for more than a decade, she said.
In a 2021 interview with the Milwaukee Business Journal and Wisconsin Inno, Zywave CEO Jason Liu said around 45% of the company's employees were in the Milwaukee area, and that it also had hubs in Dallas, London, New England and Asia.
Zywave provides cloud-based tools for insurers, agents, brokers and other insurance-adjacent service providers. Its products focus on sales, client management, analytics and content.
The company's recent restructuring was among several "opportunities for organizational improvement" Zywave announced to employees Monday, Larsen said. The changes are intended to "ensure long-term growth and success."
The changes involve simplifying the company's go-to-market strategy, optimizing the customer experience and implementing smarter spending in order to build a competitive cost structure, Larsen said.
Zywave made the recent restructuring decisions "with the utmost care” and is confident they'll help set the company up for greater success in the future, Liu said in a statement Tuesday.
“Zywave is a strong, agile company," Liu said. "To remain competitive in our evolving global economy, it's essential we continue to optimize operations at all levels of the business."
Zywave in December 2022 announced layoffs impacting "a number of employees," and said the company's rapid growth had slowed due to economic factors.
The company made nine acquisitions between 2019 and 2022 and surpassed 1,000 employees in 2022. It had 282 employees in the Milwaukee area as of June 30, 2023, according to Milwaukee Business Journal research.
