Allianz tech 'transformation' exposed as offshoring drive

Allianz's global technology arm, AzTech, has been running a staff-reduction program that cut its Australian headcount by more than a third over three years. The initiative, called Speed2Value, is described internally as a way to move work out of high-cost jurisdictions, according to a Fair Work Commission ruling published this week.

AzTech's direct employee count in Australia fell from 515 in March 2023 to 329 in March 2026, the ruling states. The decision, which upheld the redundancy of an analyst programmer, quotes Allianz submissions saying the program involves "transitioning certain in-house roles and functions out of high-cost jurisdictions and into an offshore or outsourced model."

Publicly, Allianz markets Speed2Value as a "transformation" focused on "innovation and operational excellence." The Fair Work Commission decision paints a different picture: a cost-out exercise that sends IT work to lower-cost locations, including to HCLTech in India.

The case centres on an analyst programmer who challenged his redundancy after his role was outsourced to HCLTech. In a letter to his former employer, the programmer argued that the offshore team lacked the capability to handle his work. "They have only been able to maintain and modify templates created by myself and other ... team members," he wrote. He also said he had chosen Allianz over other career paths based on assurances that his role would be stable and lead to exposure to other tools.

The Fair Work Commission found it "understandable" that the programmer "felt very aggrieved" at being made redundant, in part because he had moved interstate for the role. But it ruled the redundancy was genuine. AzTech submitted that the role was eliminated and not replaced within its enterprise. To the extent the functions were still needed, they had been outsourced to HCLTech, a third-party contractor based in India providing document management services for the Allianz group.