Palatka, Florida: "It Has Been Going Down Hill Rapidly Around Here"

At first, this appeared to be yet another mass layoff story involving a call center. But then the article from First Coast News went of to describe the economic devastation being wrought upon one Florida community:

Allorica Incorporated, which is based in California, announced it is closing its call center in Putnam County. A total of 289 people work at the facility, which is being closed on June 29th.

"It's very dissapointing," said Palatka Mayor Vernon Myers. "They were a good corporate citizen, they were a large employer. We're going to feel the effect of their closing."

Company spokeswoman Danel Kuhlman said a change in client requirements forced the closing. Employees will be offered any available jobs at other facilities. They operate 7 in Florida.

Employees would not talk to First Coast News on camera, saying they were not to talk to the media. The company is also offering resources to assist in resume building and interview skills.

Harry Gillean operates Andrea's Bookstore nearby and launched his own going out of business sale 3 weeks ago. He'll be laying off 3 workers. The call center closing is just more bad news, he says. "Another nail in the coffin. Earlier, we lost 700 jobs at Georgia Pacific, the school board is laying off, water management recently lost 200 employees, so it has been going down hill rapidly around here."

Leave it to the guy who owned the bookstore to connect the dots. Much better than the town's idiot mayor:

Mayor Myers thinks this is just a blip in the local economy for now. He's seeing economic progress in the area. Allorica replaced a company that closed before, and he is confident they can attract another to Northeast Florida.

"We feel optimistic something will be on the positive side in the future," said Myers.

Maybe the bookstore guy should run for mayor next time around, and then maybe this beleaguered community might have someone in charge who is realistic about the very dire problems it faces.


Bonus: A sweet tune from Florida indie rock troubadours, The Silos

Nationwide Insurance Closing Amarillo Call Center

It is not a good time to be a call center employee right now. Here is a local Texas television station with the details:

Jobs will be lost in Amarillo following an announcement Wednesday that Nationwide insurance will soon be closing their call center.

Nationwide says they will be cutting more than 300 jobs.

Amarillo's call center is due to be closed in July of next year.

The Amarillo Economic Development Corporation currently owns the building in which Nationwide's call center resides.

Customers can still be served by the insurance company online.

Good fucking luck with that. It doesn't sound like Nationwide is on your side any longer.

Thanks For The Grant Money, Virginia, But We're Laying Off 372 Anyway

Yet another tale of corporate welfare gone to shit. Here is the Pilot OnLine.com with the story:

Early last year, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced that Virginia officials had persuaded a call center to stay in Hampton and expand, enticed in part by a state grant.

TRG Customer Solutions and the governor's office said the company would increase its local workforce from 300 to 420.

Estimates vary on how many employees TRG has since hired in Hampton. But the ranks soon could be down to zero, at least for a while.

TRG will lay off 371 people, beginning April 30, according to the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act website. The federal WARN law requires postings of corporate layoffs and plant closings.

That number represents the call center's total workforce, said Catherine Doherty, chief people officer of the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company, which provides customer support for businesses.

"TRG remains committed to the Hampton community and is actively seeking new business for the center," Doherty said. "We are unable to comment further at this time."

In a January 2011 news release announcing TRG's expansion, McDonnell's office said the Virginia Department of Business Assistance "will provide funding and services to support the company's recruitment and training activities." It didn't identify the amount.

The state had offered TRG a total of $290,000 in incentives but paid only about $80,500 to help train workers, McDonnell's spokesman, Jeff Caldwell, said in an email Monday.

That came to about $805.50 for each of 100 additional employees hired, based on an average salary of about $10 an hour, said Duc Truong, senior operations manager of the Business Assistance Department.

TRG said in its application in early 2011 that it had 355 employees and later reported hiring 100 more, Truong said.

That would have raised total employment to 455 - different from the number announced in the company's and state's news releases last year and the number cited by the TRG executive Monday.

But here is the part of the story I thought was particularly funny:

The state is still ahead financially, Truong said, because it makes back the amount of the grants within three months in tax revenue from the added workers.

Since June 2011, Truong said, Virginia has strengthened its oversight of the grants.

Agreements now specify that companies might have to reimburse the money if "the facility closes within one year of receiving the investment funds... or if fraud has been discovered by an audit."

Notice first off how Duc Truong doesn't provide any specific figures to back up the claim that the state made the money back that it gave to the company. Secondly, its nice to know that Virginia now has has new rules in place regarding corporate grants welfare that it should have had all along.


Bonus: "I'm gonna leave this town...in a cloud of dust"

Assurant Solutions Call Center in Lawton (Oklahoma) Will Close, 175 Laid Off

There have been a awful lot of call center closings lately. Guess people don't need help with stuff anymore, or something. Here is NewsOK with the story:

The Assurant Solutions call center in Lawton says it will phase out operations over the next few months and close the facility next year, leaving about 175 people out of work.

President Craig Lemasters tells a local newspaper that work will be transferred to company centers in Miami, Fla., and Albany, Ore.

The Lawton center handles calls in the insurance and warranty industries. The center opened in 2001 and at one point had more than 400 workers.

And so it goes.

Two Call Centers in Baton Rouge Closing, 925 To Be Laid Off

I can't imagine that working at a call center and listening to complaints all day is a fun or rewarding job. But at least it is a job. Or it used to be. Here is the Baton Rouge Advocate with the details:

The Home Depot will lay off 225 customer-support and distribution-facility workers in Baton Rouge over the next 18 months, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer said Thursday.

None of Home Depot’s retail locations, which employ about 800 people, are affected by the announcement.

The announcement, however, comes several months after the company said it would phase out 400 call center employees in Baton Rouge through this year, which raises the total Home Depot-related jobs being lost in the coming months to 625.

The announcement also comes just two days after Ohio-based Convergys Corp. said it will close its Baton Rouge call center and lay off 300 workers.

Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes said 90 workers at Home Depot’s distribution facility for online purchases and 135 in sales, purchasing and finance for company subsidiary Your Other Warehouse were informed of their layoffs Thursday.

It's obviously not a great day in Baton Rouge.


Bonus: An appropriate ditty from the last Lou Reed album worth hearing

T-Mobile Closing Seven Call Centers Around The Country

I hadn't originally planned to post about T-Mobile's announcement on Thursday that the company plans to close seven of it's call centers around the country because the reports indicated that they may be hiring nearly as many workers as they were laying off at their remaining facilities. Then I saw this article from T-MoNews.com, which indicates that whatever the company's intentions, the employees are not taking it well. But I'll let them speak for themselves:

– Practicing C.E.O. is what you’ve asked of us in all of our decisions. Customer, Employee, Owner. The balance is what’s important. However, all across the nation, 7 of your call centers and over 3000 jobs are being lost. With no clear agenda other than saving money and not giving the company the time to rebound from the AT&T merger announcement you sit back and think you are doing right by the Owner… there’s two letters missing there. Customers won’t see much of a difference – except for hold times – lack of morale – and fear from the remaining call centers about their futures. Employees, 3000 of them, now are no longer champions for your wireless cause.

–Since news broke of the AT&T merger, that we now know will not happen, our customer care service seems to have slipped. I believe it was a moral thing. Associates became discouraged, thus began to stop showing that “positive, stay scrappy” attitude. Customers who need to call care were waiting longer than ever just to speak to an actual person. Now that we are “downsizing”, I fear our Customer Care division will take another hit. Nobody likes knowing that they can be next. The closing of the centers don’t seem to be based off of a performance metric, so who’s next? I fear moral will decrease again, and we’ll see more and more people jumping ship. As a retail rep, my job calls on me to call into Customer Care sometimes. For the next three months, I could be on the phone with people who know they are losing their job. Will I get the same “can do attitude”? Will customers get a fair and balanced conversation when dealing with a Customer Care rep on the phone? These questions will be answered in the coming months. I don’t expect another JD award anytime soon. Its sad. I don’t want to see Magenta fail, but it may be inevitable.

–I was honestly shocked and speechless! It was my day off and i got the text and then phone call i had to sit down i was shaking! I put 6 years of my life there and now its over! We were all worried about AT&T closing us and our own company pulls the rug out from underneath us!

–All and all, I would say I am still in shock. To have such a range of emotions in only a short window is exhausting. We went from the uncertainty of the acquisition, to the jubilation of knowing we would remain T-Mobile, to only have our hearts pained again with this news. When you have a family to feed, it becomes all too real to be in this situation. I know that companies have to stay flexible, its an “adapt or die” marketplace, and I place no fault at anyone’s doorstep. War creates casualties, and all losses are difficult ones. I know I can speak for my co-workers who share in this dark day when I say we will persevere and become better for it, but for today, we are simply speechless.

–These reps were on the phones, doing there jobs when this e-mail bomb dropped. My friend (from a closing center) told me there were riots of yelling, crying, and disappointment. T-Mobile should realize people build our lives around this job, we love what we do, and the news should have been dropped a little lighter. My friend is a single mother of 2 who just purchased her 1st home about 3 months ago. The bottom line is jobs will be lost, not everyone can transfer, what about those people.

–I work at lenexa call center and am very heart broken at this decision. This company was once the best company there ever was to work at. Even in last 2 years they have pushed for sales so much but we still had fun. Ya we might of complained but we really were like family. My coaches became my friends and honestly cared about us and that’s unlike any other place I’ve ever worked. I will truly miss everyone of you and all I can say is let’s make the best of the next 3 months together and make memories to treasure!!!

–I have worked at tmo for 6 1/2 years and my call center got spared. I am scared as hell though. I dont think we going to be there long but oh well they would be doing me a favor. I hate working there but pay is well. USA call centers are not the issue. I will tell you the issue is outsource care they always tell customers some outlandish info that I dont know how they got it. The issue with tmo is outsource cust care, terrible store reps that only care bout sales and not tech which i understand cuz thats how they make money so they need tech rep in every store that just deals with tech and has tier 3 resources and knowledge.

–I watched as the focus went from customer satisfaction to company growth, and while the two are not mutually exclusive, t-mobile was not very good at bringing the two together. In their effort to make their employees more efficient to cut costs, it put such stress on the employee that the frustration inevitably came through on our calls. Nobody wants to lose their job because a stat wasn’t meeting company standards (for example, in technical care, “business standard” is 800 seconds for call length…so if you are on the call for more than 13 minutes, then it is not efficient enough for the company). To all of my fellow employees who are also facing this change, always know that when one door closes, another one opens. And for the remaining employees who are indirectly effected by this, I hope that T-mobile understands how lucky they are to have you, and make strides to reduce the stress you have in your workday, and also work towards bringing back that world-class customer service that made T-mobile the great company it used to be.

–T-Mobile customer service went downhill in a hurry–but not because of the people. The most skilled carpenter would have a hard time building a cabinet without any tools. The other problem with great customer service is that it attracts the customers needing the most service which gets expensive as well.

–As a call center employee at one of the centers lucky enough to be staying open, I can say we all have heavy hearts for those given the horrible news today. It’s scary to know that in a blink of an eye their world has been turned upside down. Good luck to all of you in the closing centers and maybe we’ll see some of you up in the Pacific Northwest!

–I am one of those employees that will be gone after June 2012, I praise God for the memories and sincere T-Mobile values I was taught. They praised concern and honesty, I know many people won’t believe it, but it’s true. I thank them for all they did for my family and I in 3 years. I’m at peace.

–This is damning news my family just received today my girlfriend I work in one of the 7 call centers and just bought a house and had a child with in the past year and a half and now have no idea what the future brings I wish all my coworkers the best and the true friends I have made I’ll miss you very much and hope you all land on your feet quickly.

–I was just laid off yesterday (not from T-Mobile), having gone through months of worry about it. My heart goes out to each and every one of the affected employees. I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for 11 years, and I’ll bet some of the affected employees have helped me out over the years. Thank you – honestly, from a customer, not from some corporate platitude – for your hard work, and I wish you all the best for the future.

Greensboro (North Carolina) Call Center To Close, Nearly 700 To Be Laid Off

When your town starts losing crappy jobs like those at a call center, you might have an unemployment problem. Here is the Greensboro News & Record with the details:

A call center will close on August 31 and lay off 685 employees beginning in May.

The NCO Customer Management, Inc., told Mayor Robbie Perkins on Friday that it is permanently closing the Greensboro center at 4336 Federal Drive. NCO specializes in outsourcing calls and other services for companies across the world.

According to a letter Perkins received, the office “is closing due to business needs, which are considerate of client-mandated business decisions and requirements.”

The layoffs will begin May 7, the letter said. The company notified employees Friday. Perkins called the layoffs “devastating."

This was just the latest such hit suffered by Greensboro:

In January 2011, American Express decided to close its call center and move 1,500 jobs from Greensboro.

According to Wikipedia, Greensboro's population is around 269,000, which means that these two closings alone directly affected nearly 1% of the people who live there, not counting family members. Grim figures, indeed.


Bonus: Sounds like the people of Greensboro need to take the advice of their fellow Carolinians and get themselves A New Life

StarTek Closing Call Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas - 223 Jobs Lost

The economy is going so great, the fewer people need to make customer service calls...or something. Here is ktbs.com with the details:

A call center in Jonesboro has announced plans to close its doors this spring, laying off all 223 workers.

StarTek made the announcement late Monday.

A company spokeswoman tells the Jonesboro Sun that the layoffs were because of a change in work requirements, but she declined to elaborate.

I guess, "no longer having enough work to do" counts as a "change in work requirements."


Bonus: The company needs more customers like Debbie Harry