Bupa confirms cuts to office-based roles

Australian health insurance company Bupa has cut a number of office-based roles, citing economic challenges and the need to preserve the long-term sustainability of the private health sector.

Australia’s largest aged-care provider, and one of the country’s biggest private health insurers, Bupa, has carried out a restructuring impacting a number of office-based roles across the company.

In a statement given to HR Leader, a Bupa spokesperson cited present challenges in the current “economic environment” as a key driver behind the changes set to impact staff.

“Given the challenges of the current economic environment and the need to support the long-term sustainability of the private health sector, we’ve started a process to review the efficiency and effectiveness of our cost base and improve ways of working in our Australian business.

“Unfortunately, these changes will result in some people in office-based roles leaving Bupa. There will be no impacts in our customer and patient-facing teams to ensure we continue to focus on what matters most, delivering quality care and support to our customers,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson expressed that the “difficult decisions” were not “taken lightly” and that affected staff would be treated with “empathy and respect” in the navigation of this process.

“We’re providing a range of support options to help affected people when and where they need it, including redeployment and career guidance,” said the spokesperson.

HR Leader understands that the changes have impacted close to 150 office-based roles throughout the company.

As previously reported by HR Leader, Bupa was hit with a class action by law firm Echo Law back in April, which alleged that understaffing was leading to alleged failures to meet the minimum acceptable level of care.

“Bupa markets itself as a high-quality provider with sufficient, well-trained staff ready to provide a high level of personalised support, but the evidence shows that Bupa’s homes regularly and consistently fall below minimum acceptable benchmarks for care,” said Echo Law’s senior associate, Dr Lauren Meath.

Bupa’s spokesperson confirmed that these changes are not set to impact “customer and patient-facing teams”.