Call center in Eugene announces layoffs (206 jobs)

[UpInArms]

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D83DEFE82.html

A software call center in Eugene is planning to lay off 206 employees before the summer is out.

Officials with Texas-based Stream, which owns the call center, said the layoffs came because the company had lost a key contract to provide customer support for Symantec software products.

"There's a lot of surprise, a lot of anger, irritation," one Stream employee told the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

In a written statement, officials with California-based Symantec said they had picked a replacement vendor to provide better service. The company wouldn't say who or where.

The Symantec contract constituted the majority of the work Stream handled at its Eugene call center, and if Stream isn't able to find replacement work, it will close the call center, workers said.

...more...

[Qutzupalotl]

1. Sucks. BUT,

KLCC said a few weeks ago that a cruise line (or airline, I forget) had decided to locate its call center in Eugene, and would bring in 200 jobs. Sure as hell beats unemployment.

[Sparky McGruff]

2. It's a paycheck, but not much else

Mrs. McGruff has to comment:

I worked at Symantec's Eugene call center a few years ago. One of the worst jobs I ever had. They'd hire 15 people off the street and maybe keep two of them. It was a cutthroat environment. Star employees who took the most calls met their daily call quotas by hanging up on customers who took more than three minutes on the phone. These customers would call back, wait on hold for another 20-30 minutes, and be angrier each time they got though to a CS rep. Try this: the next time you call a major company's call center, ask the rep if he or she has three minutes to get you off the phone in order to meet a daily call quota. There's sure to be an awkward pause. Call centers are sweatshops with computers and headsets.

[TOhioLiberal]

3. I used to work in such an environment...

...for Convergys, as a CSR for Comcast. We had daily quotas and due to the nature of the call (Tech Support) I rarely hit the quota of 650 seconds. Sweatshops with computers and headsets is right on the mark. I feel sorry for these people, it's not a good time to be unemployed.

Convergys Sucks (I'm sure Stream does too)