NORWICH Union staff based in York have expressed dismay at their annual salary increase of just three per cent - despite the company announcing record sales figures.

Workers' representatives have rejected the offer and asked bosses to reconsider.

The Press reported in September that the company is to shed 450 jobs from its York base as part of a package of 4,000 redundancies across the country.

The salary increase offer comes only days after stunning sales figures for York-based Norwich Union Life policies were announced. Sales were up 35 per cent to a record £13.962 billion in 2006.

An official response to the pay increase by the York workers' official representative body, Your Forum, which has been leaked to The Press, says: "Your Forum expressed disappointment at the amount as we felt it did not reflect the contribution and commitment demonstrated by employees during a period of great change and uncertainty.

"It is also inadequate to match the current rate of inflation.Your Forum unanimously requested that the company reconsider this amount.

"Throughout 2006, the public messages from Norwich Union have indicated that the company was performing very well, as a result the common expectation was that the pay award would at least match the previous years percentage of four per cent.

"As you will now realise the company did not increase the budget and Your Forum does not agree with the company's position."

Andy Case, a finance officer with Amicus, which is not recognised by Norwich Union but with whom many workers are a member, urged the company to be more "realistic". "Bearing in mind the improved performance of the company this year and the uncertainty staff have been working under, they have been expecting a pay settlement that would match last year's deal and at least be above inflation," he said.

"Amicus and the staff consultation forum - that management set up - have rejected this offer. The company must now come back with a more realistic offer and ensure that they reward staff for their hard work."

Russell Martin, Norwich Union HR Director, said: "Norwich Union recognises that it has been a challenging year for employees who have worked hard to contribute to the company's success. Yet despite the good results in 2006, many tough decisions had to be made, and tough trading conditions will continue during 2007.

"The three per cent pay budget is in line with many of our competitors but is should be remembered that basic salary is only one part of Norwich Union's employment reward package - we also recognise individual contribution through valuable bonus and share award schemes and these reflect performance in any one year. Norwich Union will continue to benchmark its pay reviews against the industry and it will always involve representative bodies in discussions."


We're still not happy with call centres

NEW research has found only four cent of people have had a good experience dealing with call centres.

Norwich Union was heavily criticised after moving hundreds of jobs to Indian call centres after announcing 4,000 workers would be made redundant.

According to the YouGov poll, the biggest complaint among consumers is having to speak to a foreign operator.

The average wage of a call centre agent in Britain is £6.73 per hour, compared to 90p per hour in India.

But now the trend could be changing as many companies are scrapping their foreign operations.

Insurance firm Esure said it was getting rid of its foreign call centres, and Powergen and the AA are also reportedly bringing back their phone-banks back to the UK. Natwest has also based an advertising campaign around the fact that all its operators are UK-based. It promises customers can speak to staff in Barnsley or Cardiff, rather than Bombay or Calcutta.

In January, Norwich Union announced it was moving 150 call centre jobs back to Britain - but workers in York would not be affected.

A Norwich Union spokeswoman said today: "We are proud of our overseas service centres and committed to providing excellent levels of service to all our customers through teams in the UK and overseas. "It's our policy that we only carry out work off-shore when we are confident that we can match or beat existing UK customer satisfaction levels. We have a 93 per cent customer satisfaction rate both in the UK and in India."