PRUDENTIAL yesterday denied press reports that it was to sack 1000 of its direct sales force, although it has increased the minimum level of business its sales people have to achieve to remain on the payroll.
''There's absolutely no way that a thousand jobs will go. Yes we will lose some, but the numbers will be small. The sales force has a long-term future with us,'' said spokesman Jeremy Reynolds.
The direct sales force, which has been heavily criticised in the pension mis-selling scandal, has already come down from 5000 to 4000 following a freeze on recruitment. At the same time, Prudential is building up its business with independent financial advisers (IFAs) through Scottish Amicable. Earlier this month it was announced that 500 new jobs are to be created at Amicable's head office at Craigforth, Stirling, to support higher IFA sales. They will be housed in a new #15m office block on the site.
Direct sales people have had their target minimum business raised from #46,000 to #55,600, which is still well below the average of #72,000. Prudential says the lower figure is uneconomic.
The rate of decline in the sales force is expected to slow, though about 1000 are currently selling less than the new minimum. Reynolds said they were bringing in a detailed training programme to help them reach the new target, but he accepted that some were likely not to attain it.
Prudential is under pressure to improve the quality of its sales given that the group is responsible for about 10% of the overall mis-selling bill of #11bn. Even now it faces allegations that its sales staff are still selling inappropriate policies to people in order to boost their commissions.
Prudential's switch of emphasis towards selling through IFAs was reflected in a 71% jump in sales to #227m by this route in the first half of the year. Sales through the direct sales force were unchanged at #120m, though this indicated an increase in the average sales per employee given the reduction in their numbers. In addition to making its sales force more productive, Prudential is taking other steps to improve efficiency.
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