Insurance company State Farm has announced that it plans to close eleven facilities nationwide over the next four years, including one in Bakersfield that employs about 740 people.
The company says the plan to “exit” the facilities will help it run more efficiently. The changes will affect over 4,000 employees nationwide.
However, Justin Tomczak with State Farm says that these jobs will not be lost entirely.
“I wouldn’t call it a closure, it is really a moving of the jobs out of leased facilities to other locations,” Tomczak says. “Our employees will continue to have job opportunities with State Farm, but it will be in other locations. And we understand for personal reasons some of our employees will be able to move to another location to pursue an opportunity there and some will not. That will be a personal decision," says Tomczak.
The Bakersfield facility is scheduled to close in 2021. Tomczak says that announcing these changes today gives their employees time to make choices about whether a move will work best for them. The company plans to move activities from the facilities that are closing to its headquarters in Illinois and other cities.