Hundreds of Aviva staff, including call centre workers and claims handlers, are enjoying windfalls of up to £58,000, thanks to a surge in its share price under chief executive Amanda Blanc.
Workers who entered a five-year ‘save as you earn’ scheme shortly after Blanc became boss of the insurance giant have seen it vest just in time for Christmas.
Blanc, one of the FTSE 100’s most prominent bosses since taking the helm in July 2020, has overseen a more than doubling in the share price.
That has proved lucrative for the 2,000 staff who joined a share save scheme in September that year with the option to buy shares at a discounted price of 220p.
On average, they put aside £163 a month, bringing total savings to just under £10,000. Shares are now triple that value, earning them a £20,000 profit.
And 266 saved at the maximum rate of £500-worth of shares a month, or £30,000 over five years.
Secret Santa: Aviva workers who entered a five-year ‘save as you earn’ scheme shortly after Amanda Blanc (pictured) became boss, saw it vest earlier this month in time for Christmas
The value has risen to £88,000 over the period, delivering them a £58,000 windfall.
Workers taking part included those in administration, call centres and claims handling, for whom the profits would have been a huge boost.
The average salary at Aviva is £38,000. Staff can barely have expected to earn such big profits given Aviva’s prior share price performance.
In the five years before Blanc’s arrival, the stock had fallen by 45 per cent. Since then she has been credited with restoring the business to health.
After coming under pressure from Cevian, an activist investor, Blanc tidied up by selling operations in France, Italy and Singapore for £6billion, returning much of it to shareholders.
She followed that up by taking over UK rival Direct Line in a £3.7billion deal announced last year, making Aviva the UK’s largest home and motor insurer, though that will come at the cost of 2,300 job cuts.
Aviva’s shares hit an 18-year high last month.
Blanc herself has been richly rewarded, with a salary of £1.1million swollen by bonuses, taking her package to £7.2million last year.
Up to the end of 2024, she had been paid a total of £24.2million.
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