National City Moving Jobs Offshore

Yesterday, the company informed certain employees of National City Mortgage Corp. their work will be outsourced to India, company spokesman Chris Kemper told MortgageDaily.com.

“As part of our day-to day business, we continually evaluate and adjust our operations to better serve our customers and to ensure that we are as, if not more, competitive than our peers,” National City said in a written statement. “Like most companies of our size and scope, we do outsource some functions.”

The jobs at issue relate to back-office functions at the mortgage operations’ headquarters in Miamisburg, Ohio, and do not involve jobs that communicate face-to-face with customers, Kemper said. There are currently about 2,200 people employed at the base office and surrounding Dayton area.

Kemper declined to disclose the number of employees whose jobs will be transferred because it doesn’t reflect how many will ultimately be impacted, as the company’s “absolute goal is to find new positions” for those employees.

“Positions are being eliminated,” but the number won’t be enough to trigger a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing, Kemper noted. In Ohio, a WARN filing is necessary when at least 50 layoffs will occur.

The lender has offered employees whose positions might be affected the opportunity to choose between severance or placement in open positions for which they qualify when they are available. In an effort to retain the employees, National City is freezing outside hiring for certain positions and providing job placement resources, including a full-time recruiter solely responsible for identifying internal job opportunities, the spokesman said.

Employees who cannot find other jobs within the company will be given a 60-day notice before termination, and will receive transition benefits, including severance and outplacement services, Kemper added.

National City subsidiary Preferred Advantage was closed in January, resulting in less than 50 layoffs.