Chattanooga-based Unum is ramping up for more outsourcing of jobs, employees say they have learned.

One employee said the latest move to foreign personnel will focus on the large benefits department and affect 10 percent of the workforce.

The employee said, "They are setting up the infrastructure environment to handle offshore resources."

In September, Unum said it was outsourcing some "high-volume, transactional processes," leading to the elimination of some financial positions.

Unum contracted with EXL, a firm with headquarters in New York City, but with employees throughout the world, including many in India.

A Unum spokesperson did not give numbers on how many U.S. employees may be affected in the latest move.

Mary Fortune said, "As we've said before, we're always evaluating whether to expand partnerships in some areas. Partnerships in Benefits and IT are both under consideration, but we haven't made any decisions about that work.

"Unum has always relied on external partners to help us deliver new capabilities and strengthen our business. These range from Real Estate and Finance partnerships, to engaging advertising agencies or consulting services, to partnering with Social Security Disability advocates, to IT application development."