MADISON, Wis. -- American Family Insurance officials are informing their employees this week that they plan to continue to reduce their workforce in 2012 and that layoffs are possible in the future.

American Family media relations director Ken Muth said that the company will continue to try and reduce the workforce through attrition wherever possible, and that supervisors have been having conversations with employees this week "putting them on alert" that layoffs are possible. He said there is no target number of positions to be cut or a date when it may happen, but given the continued state of the economy, they wanted to let employees know that it was a possibility.

Company officials that employes 7,600 said that they have reduced employee numbers by 700 since the end of 2007, primarily through attrition.

The organization consolidated claims offices in 2010, moving from 20 offices to six and cutting 150 employees. Some of those workers did shift to the Madison office, which added employees.