President to employees: Lynchburg matters

Jun 06, 2009 (The News & Advance - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GNW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Genworth Financial's president and CEO held two town hall-style meetings with Lynchburg-based employees Friday morning, telling them that Genworth's operations in Lynchburg are important to the company as a whole.

Michael Fraizer said in a later interview with The News & Advance that he wanted to convey to employees that they play a role in strengthening the company in the economic downturn that has driven Genworth's earnings into the red for a full year.

He summarized his message to employees with the words, "Let's go build a company together."

Fraizer, wearing cowboy boots, jeans and a plaid shirt, said meeting with workers is important because of the challenges the company and the economy face. "Any time you're going through a time of a lot of change, you want to be out having good communication with your teams," he said.

As part of global cost-cutting measures, Genworth let go about 230 employees in Lynchburg in January and transferred approximately 30 of its local employees to Richmond offices. The changes left about 1,200 Genworth employees in the Lynchburg area.

Elena Edwards, Genworth's senior executive in Lynchburg, said the company has placed an emphasis on keeping up morale after the layoffs.

"Our number one asset is our employees," she said. "We want to help them understand where they fit in the organization."

To show its appreciation, the company recently sponsored an event for employees and their families at Amazement Square, and later this year it will have a Genworth night at a Lynchburg Hillcats baseball game, Edwards said.

In the process of the workforce reduction and transfers earlier this year, the company restructured and turned its Lynchburg operations into a service center.

Product development, sales and marketing were concentrated in its Richmond-area offices, Fraizer said.

Genworth's two Lynchburg offices -- on Main Street and off the Lynchburg Expressway -- are important for many stages of supporting existing customers and bringing new business, he said. They certify insurance agents, underwrite policies, cut benefits checks, and provide customer service, among other activities.

He said the company is in a solid financial position now with enough liquidity to continue operating and become profitable again. While Genworth's mortgage insurance division needs the housing market to recover, Fraizer said other company divisions ought to improve now as people recognize the value of insurance and related financial products.

"What we do is ... more important now than ever," Fraizer said.

"You have other consumers who were insuring their entire lives through the stock market," he said. Now that fortunes have eroded on the stock market, Fraizer said those consumers might look to the security provided by Genworth products such as lifestyle protection, retirement and long-term care insurance.

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