Aon to Cut at Least 1,500 Positions as Part of Hewitt Integration

Aon Corp. disclosed that it plans to eliminate between 1,500 and 1,800 positions globally as it integrates Hewitt Associates Inc., which it acquired this month, with its Aon Consulting unit and now operates as Aon Hewitt Inc.

Most of the positions to be cut will be “nonclient facing,” Aon said in an Oct. 14 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Before its Oct. 1 acquisition of Hewitt, Aon Consulting had about 6,300 employees, while Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt had about 23,000 employees.

While Aon Consulting and Hewitt in 2009 each generated just over $1 billion in consulting revenue, Hewitt’s $2 billion in outsourcing revenue was about 10 times that of Aon Consulting.

In its filing, Aon said it expects to incur about $325 million in restructuring costs, including $180 million in expenses related to employee terminations and $145 million in real estate-related expenses.

Aon expects to deliver total annual savings of about $355 million in 2013, including $280 million of annual savings related to the restructuring plan, with additional savings in areas such as information technology and procurement costs.    

Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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