Great Western to Eliminate 500 Jobs at Branches : Thrifts: 208 employees in the state are offered new positions; 154 are laid off. The move reflects ongoing cost cutting.

In a move to trim costs and boost sales in its branch network, Great Western Bank on Thursday announced it will cut 500 jobs at branches in California and Florida.

In one-on-one meetings in the 298 California branches Thursday morning, managers notified 362 employees that their jobs will be eliminated. Of those, 154 were laid off immediately; the remaining 208 will be offered jobs elsewhere in the thrift, said Steve Hawkins, a Great Western spokesman.

Certain operations now performed in the branches, such as answering informational telephone calls, processing mail and balancing automated teller machine accounts, will be centralized at the Northridge Service Center and at a similar facility in Florida.

The marketing goal is to free the remaining branch employees for more direct dealings with customers, in order to improve sales and service, Curtis J. Crivelli, executive vice president for retail banking, said in a statement.

“In today’s competitive business environment, our banking branches must have the capacity to increase sales by marketing the wide variety of financial services Great Western Bank now offers,” Crivelli said.

Great Western also imposed a hiring freeze at its branches Thursday, which, together with the layoffs, is meant to reduce total branch employment in California and in the 121 Florida branches to 6,000 from the current 6,500, Hawkins said.

Laid-off employees were given two weeks’ severance pay plus a week of pay for every year of employment at Great Western, he said.

Thursday’s move is part of a process, begun about two years ago, to slash costs and increase efficiency throughout the thrift, which is the principal subsidiary of Chatsworth-based Great Western Financial Corp.

In late 1993, after an analysis by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., Great Western eliminated about 1,000 administrative positions through layoffs and attrition.

Parent Great Western Financial announced operating profits of $59 million for the fourth quarter of 1994, a turnaround from an $18.2-million loss in the year-earlier period.

Analysts noted that the company has become serious about cutting costs.