Laid off from GEICO.

What GEICO layoffs have meant for employees

GEICO's shrinking under Todd Combs ran far past any single announcement. Berkshire Hathaway, which owns GEICO, prints a staff count for each of its operating companies in its annual report, and Carrier Management has followed GEICO's line from year to year. By that reading, the decline began with smaller cuts in 2021 and 2022. The 2023 drop alone came to nearly four times the cut in the October memo that Corridor Business quoted, and the count fell again in 2024 before Berkshire's 2025 annual report showed it climbing. At Berkshire's 2025 annual meeting, Vice Chair Ajit Jain credited Combs with the savings from that smaller headcount. If you left GEICO in a year with no headline, you were part of that decline all the same.

When the October 19, 2023 cut came, it came fast. The memo said the people affected would be contacted that day, and WKBW reported it would reach about 5.5% of GEICO's Buffalo-area workforce. One Lakeland claims underwriter with nearly 26 years told LkldNow the memo reached her at about 8:30 that morning and her phone rang at 9:43, with a caller from Virginia she'd never met saying her job was being eliminated. She said her boss had told her that morning her numbers looked great, and the caller told her there was no rhyme or reason to who was picked. She also described 18 months of restructuring before that day, with her boss now working from Buffalo and layoffs in IT and marketing since August. That's one person's account, and it's unverified, but if you were cut and want to know why, you can ask HR in writing what criteria were used.

The memo pinned GEICO's rising loss costs on inflation, slow repairs and medical bills, and it changed the job for the people who stayed, too, by asking them to spend more days in the office. For anyone working remotely or on a hybrid schedule, that was a second decision landing in the same email as the layoffs. If an office requirement is what's pushing you toward leaving, it's worth asking HR, in writing, whether a departure over it would be treated as a resignation and what that would mean for any severance.

The 2022 California closings show how much can ride on who signed your paycheck. Those offices carried GEICO's name, but an agent at one Sacramento office told the Sacramento Bee that agency was independently owned and the shutdown was GEICO's corporate decision, and the Bee, citing GEICO's website, described local agents who paid to open their offices, earned commissions and could sell only GEICO products. If you worked in a GEICO-branded office, it's worth checking whether your paychecks came from GEICO or from a local agency. GEICO kept selling in California online after the closings, which was cold comfort to anyone whose job had been behind that counter.

GEICO has been announcing jobs again since late 2024, in new buildings in Richardson, Texas, and at its Tampa campus. Its January 2026 announcement and its Tampa opening release describe the work as sales, service and claims, the same kinds of work as the Lakeland underwriter's job. Florida is where both halves of the record meet, since Lakeland lost jobs in the 2023 cut and Tampa is where GEICO opened a campus in 2026. If roles like those are posted when you're looking and you're open to relocating, they may be worth a look.

A sourced history of GEICO layoffs

• October 2023, GEICO memo announces about 2,000 job cuts

  Todd Combs's October 19 memo announced roughly 2,000 job cuts, 6% of staff, according to Corridor Business, including 25 in North Liberty, Iowa. Patch counted 93 at the Marlton, New Jersey, office, set for January 17, and LkldNow at least 22 in Lakeland.

• August 2023, GEICO employees post about mass layoffs

  In LinkedIn posts that Insurance Business reported on August 22, several GEICO employees said they'd been part of “mass” layoffs the week before, from marketing, customer support, the special investigations unit and IT. The posts are unverified.

• October 2022, GEICO lays off about 1% in Macon

  GEICO laid off around 1% of its Macon, Georgia, associates that October, citing customer and business priorities. Its statement to WGXA said displaced associates would get severance benefits and outplacement, and offers of other positions when available.

• Summer 2022, GEICO closes its 38 California agent offices

  The closures of all 38 GEICO agent offices in California, which the Sacramento Bee reported on August 1, brought more than 35 layoffs around Sacramento and hundreds statewide, and GEICO ended telephone sales in the state.

What to do if you're laid off from GEICO

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. GEICO's biggest hubs: New Jersey, Iowa. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what GEICO's hub states run: New Jersey, Iowa, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.