One of the largest employers in Kaunas continues to decline: it planned to have 1,000 employees, and still has 58 | Deal

In the first days of June 15 minutes The news came that the R1 RCM (R1 Revenue Cycle Management) office in Kaunas, which had been downsizing its operations in Kaunas for some time, was being closed. Evidence was sent that department managers said goodbye to their colleagues and wished them more success in their careers.

Intermedix had 700 employees at a time and planned to have a thousand of them and move to the new BLC office in the city center, but the R1 RCM company that Intermedix acquired abruptly abandoned the plans. A US technology company USA In December of last year 15 minutes confirmed the decision to change the strategy in Lithuania. According to Lukas Jankauskas, Director of the R1 RCM Service Center in Lithuania at the time, this solution is part of the global change and the efficiency of the process.

As of December last year, business needs and risk assessment were still ongoing, but the decision to reduce the company’s operations in Lithuania had already been made. It is true that the director of the center spoke abstractly about the closure of the office. However, he did not rule out the possibility that the company’s activities in Lithuania may be suspended in the future. When you spoke about the future, were you already referring to this spring or the beginning of summer?

There are still 58 employees

According to publicly available data from Sodra, as of April this year, there were 252 UAB Intermedix Lietuva policyholders for whom state social security (VSD) contributions were paid. , paid much less – about 99.5 thousand euros).

The company’s average salary (before tax) in April (the last month for which the data is publicly available) amounted to 6,187.45 euros and was more than double that in March: 2,270.46 euros. Such a jump in the average salary in the company may be due to severance pay for quickly firing employees, but this is only a precondition.

Here, in February of last year, the company had 769 employees, later their number only decreased, sometimes slightly increasing and falling again. 15 minutes He found that currently there are still 58 employees in Kaunas, the office doors are not yet closed and it is unknown exactly when this will be done.

No formal decision has yet been made to suspend the company.

“Currently, we continue with the decision of our global parent company, which is optimizing business processes at group level and changing the strategy in Lithuania. Although the scope of activities in Lithuania is shrinking, no formal decision has yet been made to suspend the company’s activities, and the date for the transfer of all planned functions will depend on the success of these processes.

Today, the company has 58 employees, but there is still no decision on the number of employees and the deadlines for which the company will operate. We can assure you that the company itself, as a legal entity, will not be liquidated this year “, 15 minutes On June 11, L. Jankauskas, the director of the R1 RCM service center in Lithuania, testified.

Most of the features are moving to the USA. USA And India

L. Jankauskas ensured that all functions are transferred taking into account the company’s business areas, and not at specific work levels. Most of the functions, according to the competencies required for them, are transferred to other divisions of the international company in the USA. USA And India, but the additional scope of these processes has not yet been approved.

“We implement the changes guaranteeing all the legal and financial obligations of the company to the employees and in order to help them integrate into the labor market, and we compensate for the changes to a much greater degree than that provided for in the National Labor Code.” These decisions are planned, employees are constantly informed about them in advance, but due to the confidentiality of financial problems, we cannot comment on changes in wages.

The company thanks Lithuania and especially Kaunas for the hospitality and business opportunities. We are and will be true ambassadors of the country in the global market. Like any international company, R1 constantly evaluates its service offering, changing global markets and customer needs. The location of the places where the company operates was also evaluated during these processes. The decision to concentrate R1 activities in other existing global service centers is the result of these strategic evaluations ”, explained L. Jankauskas.

This is unrelated to the Lithuanian investment environment

Comment on the complete and mature withdrawal from Lithuania of this great employer 15 minutes presented by Mantas Katinas, General Manager of Invest in Lithuania. According to him, last year in the plans of implementation of the global strategy of R1 RCM it was decided to reduce the scope of the company’s activities in Lithuania, which is still ongoing. This is unrelated to the Lithuanian investment environment, it is the result of Intermedix and R1 RCM’s global strategy and an event that often occurs in the business world.

“When one company acquires another, the structure of the global divisions is often reviewed. As far as we know, the Kaunas branch is not closed, 58 employees are currently working there. The company’s decisions and timelines regarding the company are not yet known. to the number of employees or the duration of the company’s activities “, M. Katinas repeated the same as the representative of the company.

According to him, the exit of some companies is common to all mature places in the service center industry. The experience of other countries shows that the departure of a small number of service centers from the countries is a typical industry process; It can be caused by many factors, but most of the time this decision is determined by the internal processes of the companies.

For example, according to the CEO of Invest in Lithuania, Ireland has been calculating the balance between job losses and job creation for some time, while Poland, where such withdrawals are more frequent than Lithuania due to increased industrial maturity, It is also experiencing stable industrial growth (for example, Lithuania In 2016-2018, such employment growth was 13% in Poland and 14% in Poland).

The company grew like a yeast.

IT healthcare giant Intermedix Lietuva was established in Lithuania in 2013. As the only European operations center serving a variety of healthcare providers, government agencies and companies in more than 25 countries.

2014 After opening 3 thousand in Kaunas. kv. By occupying the center, it already had 200 employees at the start of its operation, providing professional IT systems, data management and administration, and many other services. By establishing a service center, the company invested LTL 17.5 million. LTL.

Ken Cooke, CEO of Intermedix Corporation, said that Lithuania was chosen as the first center in Europe for several reasons: “First of all, excellent and educated people live here, Lithuania is a country of the European Union, we have received great support from the lithuanian government. The Intermedix Service Center employs professionals in a variety of fields, from management, human resources professionals to software developers and financial analysts. “

It was emphasized that due to 7 million. Lithuania invested in India. The company’s additional plans have been made public: at the Kaunas Service Center until 2015. by the end of 2016, about 600 people will work, and in 2016, about 750 people.

2015 In December, when the company grew as a yeast, a second office was opened in Kaunas. Intermedix was increasingly mentioned as one of the most coveted and fastest growing employers in our country. The total area of ​​both offices amounted to about 7 thousand. kv. meter.

2016 In September 2015, Intermedix Lietuva received the 2015 Workplace of the Year title at the National Responsible Business Awards. In addition, the company was honored and complemented by the statuette “For the promotion of youth entrepreneurship initiatives” for the first time.

2018 In May, the largest transaction transaction in the history of Kaunas real estate market business center facilities was announced. It has been announced that Intermedix will move to the Business Leaders Center (BLC), which is being developed by the SBA’s urban inventors. It is planned to lease 7.3 thousand. kv. meters of premises, which accounted for around 60 percent. The total area of ​​the business center. An estimated 800 company employees will work at these locations. Intermedix would be located in the new business center in 2019.

However, in 2018. With the acquisition of Intermedix by the American technology company R1 RCM, these plans have been abandoned. 2019 In March, it was announced that probably the largest modern office lease transaction in Kaunas history had collapsed – the company remained in the old office.