Nationwide is outsourcing back-office work for its commercial insurance products, a move that will affect up to 500 employees across the country, Columbus Business First reported. Nationwide currently employs 500 people in-house for commercial insurance processing, including 200 at its downtown Des Moines office and another 175 at an office in Gainesville, Fla., with the remainder at offices spread around the country. A third-party vendor, Cognizant Technology Solutions, has been contracted to perform the work. Nationwide officials said many of the employees affected will be eligible to apply for 1,200 other job openings it has across the country, so it can’t say how many will be out of work. The company said many more employees will also be eligible for its recently launched Future of Work initiative, which could provide them training to shift into different jobs. The outsourcing is expected to be completed by mid-2021. Cognizant, a multinational company, in 2016 entered into an economic development agreement with the state of Iowa in which it pledged to create more than 1,000 additional jobs in the state over five years. The company employs 550 people in Greater Des Moines, according to the 2020 Book of Lists. Read a Business Record Insider article from April 2017 about Cognizant’s growth strategy in Des Moines.