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UnitedHealthcare is offering some of its employees buyouts if they quit their jobs by early March, according to a report.
The healthcare giant is offering the option to some workers in benefits operations if they leave by March 3, CNBC reported.
If they opt out of the buyout, employees can stay in their current position or a comparable one – but it’s unclear for how long. If a certain number of workers don’t resign through the buyouts, the company will have to lay people off, the outlet reported.
The buyout offers come two months after UnitedHealthcare lost its CEO Brian Thompson in December when he was fatally shot outside of a Manhattan hotel. Luigi Mangione has been accused in the murder, and has pleaded not guilty.
UnitedHealthcare is part of UnitedHealth Group, the largest private health insurer in the country with a nearly 16 percent market share and employing more than 440,000 people as of 2023.
It’s not immediately clear how many people will be offered the buyout option.
A UnitedHealthcare spokesperson told The Independent in a statement: “This voluntary option is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure our team is best positioned to meet the evolving needs of the people and customers we are honored to serve. We continue to grow our workforce and hire talent based on the needs of our business.”
“This voluntary option is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure our team is best positioned to meet the evolving needs of the people and customers we are honored to serve,” a UnitedHealth spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. “We continue to grow our workforce with more than 3,200 positions currently available on UnitedHealth Group’s careers site.”
An internal memo, seen by CNBC, outlined that both full-time or part-time workers in benefits operations were eligible for the buyouts.
If other employees need to be cut, they will be terminated “no sooner than” May 1, according to the memo. Although some workers who accept the buyout offers may need to work beyond that date, they likely won’t be required to work beyond November 13, CNBC reported.
The memo urged employees to accept the buyout offers, warning that benefits may not be “as favorable” in a potential future layoff as those offered buyouts.
UnitedHealthcare employees who received the buyout offers are “in shock,” CNBC reported. UnitedHealth Group touted $400 billion in revenue in 2024 and grew 8 percent year over year, according to its most recent earnings report.