It’s not even a month into the year and already nearly 50 job losses have been announced in the international business sector, affecting mostly Bermudians.Before the hedge fund industry job cuts were confirmed yesterday by Jupiter and BNY Mellon, the Bermuda-based insurer Ironshore announced up to 70 employees were being made redundant worldwide this year as part of plans to outsource back-office functions to global company Genpact.Sources close to Ironshore told The Royal Gazette yesterday that in Bermuda, they understood that a total of at least 16 employees were being let go, with eight of them being Bermudian.Ironshore has said “approximately a dozen employees in Bermuda” would be affected by the job losses along with Ironshore vendors for all of Ironshore offices.One source said some staff were not happy about the characterisation by an Ironshore spokeswoman this week of the job cuts as being only a “handful” and there was concern that the staff being let go were having to help train workers from abroad who were taking their jobs.“I hope Immigration is scrutinising this,” the source said.The source also said there was concern the jobs cuts were only “the tip of the iceberg” and Ironshore’s move could trigger other similar redundancies in the international business sector, since Ironshore itself said it hoped to sell its IronServe model to other insurance entities, offering a potential source of revenue.“This does not bode well for back-office business done in Bermuda,” the source said.“These are Bermudians with school fees and rents and mortgages to pay, and now jobs to find.“Also, cheaper labour does not necessarily mean better back-office support.”The source said since Ironshore had only been in Bermuda a few years, the size of severance packages was not “fantastic” as some suggested in online comments, but rather no more than two to three months’ salary.A spokeswoman for Ironshore told The Royal Gazette this week that approximately 60 to 70 employees would be affected by its IronServe initiative which will be implemented over a 15 to 18-month period, to improve operational efficiencies across all platforms and transition certain business support services.As part of IronServe, Ironshore entered into a partnership with Genpact, a global pioneer of business process outsourcing which operates from India, Europe, North America and other countries.Ironshore was asked Wednesday about staff having to train the Genpact workers and gave this response: “Knowledge transfer is central to the Ironshore initiative that will streamline operational efficiencies worldwide.“Those individuals who will be assisting in any training are not being required to do so as a condition of their severance.”The spokeswoman added: “Ironshore’s transition to an international platform of operations support services involves a variety of roles across a broad range of corporate functions, so this is not a one-on-one employee transfer situation.“Corporate transition of business functions to global service providers is a common practice and Ironshore is implementing the programme according to standard industry methods in following this widely accepted approach by diverse entities in all jurisdictions worldwide, including Bermuda.”Ironshore had said “approximately a dozen employees in Bermuda” would be affected by the job losses along with Ironshore vendors for all of Ironshore offices.The company added it remained fully committed to Bermuda, and executives on the Island would remain.Ironshore’s CEO is Kevin H. Kelley.