The chief of an insurer with both mutual fund and retirement plan arms is consolidating the firm's hometown presence.

By the end of 2018, John Hancock's [profile] Boston headquarters will shift from the Seaport District (specifically, 601 Congress St.) to Back Bay (197 Clarendon and 200 Berkeley), Hancock CEO Marianne Harrison revealed yesterday in a memo reported on by the Boston Globe, twice, and by the Boston Business Journal. The move, which will begin this summer, will shift about 1,100 employees from the Seaport District to join about 2,100 employees that Hancock already has in Back Bay.

There's no word yet on which sides of Hancock, such as John Hancock Investments or John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, will be affected by the shift.

"It was critically important to me to bring our Boston-based employees together in one location to enable more effective collaboration across functions," Harrison reportedly wrote in the memo. "Working together as a team is crucial to our success, and I'm confident this move will help us build a stronger culture, deeper engagement, and better serve our customers."

Though Harrison is moving her HQ, a company spokeswoman tells both publications that the move will not include workforce cuts. Indeed, the Business Journal notes that Hancock already "has won approval to build a 26-story, 388-foot tower at 380 Stuart St., also in Back Bay." What Hancock would do with its current HQ in the Seaport or with that planned new building in Back Bay is still TBD, a company spokeswoman tells the publication.

Hancock has been headquartered at its Seaport district tower since 2004 (the same year that Manulife bought Hancock). Yet before that its HQ was in Back Bay, though in a tower now called 200 Clarendon (formerly known as Hancock Tower but now no longer associated with Hancock). 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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