Blue Shield of California will be terminating 150 employees in the Sacramento region and 74 in Lodi as part of statewide layoffs affecting 373 people, according to notices the company filed with the state’s Employment Development Department.
The company released a statement, saying: “As a nonprofit health plan, Blue Shield of California is driven by its mission to provide access to quality health care that’s sustainably affordable for all. This includes managing administrative costs, operating efficiently, and ensuring we have the right talent, skills, and capabilities in place. In a challenging economy, we have made the tough decision to reduce our staff.”
In a notice to the state dated Nov. 14, the company said all workers will be terminated by Jan. 25, 2023. Blue Shield employs 1,675 in El Dorado Hills, 1,181 in Rancho Cordova and 1,068 in Lodi.
The affected employees have been offered assistance, company officials noted in the statement. They can, for instance, stay on the job for up to 90 days while searching for a new position and receive skills training activities with the support of a certified professional career coach.
The Sacramento-area notices will go to 126 workers at four work sites on Town Center Boulevard in El Dorado Hills and to 24 individuals at 3300 Zinfandel Drive in Rancho Cordova. The affected Lodi employees work at 3021 Reynolds Ranch Parkway.
The Blue Shield notice shows that the layoffs cut across a broad swath of the company’s employees, from information technology to support staff, from business analysis to customer service units, from management to rank-and-file.
The company is also laying off employees in Costa Mesa, El Segundo, Monterey Park, Oakland, Redding, San Diego, San Francisco and Woodland Hills. In Redding, 16 workers lost their jobs.
On its website, the company said that it employs a total of 7,800 people and posted $22.9 billion in annual revenue.