Aviva staff land £58,000 Christmas jackpot as shares surge under boss Amanda Blanc
Hundreds of Aviva employees, including call center workers and claims managers, are enjoying windfall gains of up to £58,000 thanks to a surge in share prices under chief executive Amanda Blanc.
Workers who signed up to a five-year ‘save as you earn’ plan shortly after Blanc became boss of the insurance giant saw it come true at Christmas time.
Blanc, one of the FTSE 100’s top bosses since taking over in July 2020, has more than doubled the share price.
This proved profitable for the 2,000 staff who joined the share savings scheme in September the same year, with the option to purchase shares at a discounted price of 220p.
On average they set aside £163 a month, bringing total savings to just under £10,000. The shares have now tripled that value, earning them a profit of £20,000.
And 266 saved a maximum of £500 worth of shares a month, or £30,000 worth of shares over five years.
Secret Santa: Aviva staff who embarked on a five-year ‘save as you earn’ scheme shortly after Amanda Blanc (pictured) became boss saw it come true in time for Christmas earlier this month
Its value rose to £88,000 over the period, giving them a windfall of £58,000.
Among the workers who participated were those in administration, call centers and demand management, for whom profits would be a big boost.
The average salary at Aviva is £38,000. Given Aviva’s previous share price performance, staff could hardly have been expected to make such large profits.
Shares had fallen 45 percent in the five years before Blanc’s arrival. He is believed to have since nursed the business back to health.
After coming under pressure from Cevian, an activist investor, Blanc rebounded by selling its operations in France, Italy and Singapore for £6bn, returning most of it to shareholders.
It followed this up by taking over UK rival Direct Line in a £3.7bn deal announced last year, making Aviva the UK’s largest home and car insurer, but this will cost 2,300 redundancies.
Aviva’s shares reached an 18-year high last month.
Blanc himself has been richly rewarded, with a salary of £1.1 million inflated by bonuses, taking his package to £7.2 million last year.
He was paid a total of £24.2 million by the end of 2024.
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