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Call Center Jobs in Indiana Casualty of Defense Contractor Move

August 16, 2011

October will be an ugly month for almost 50 call center workers in Indiana.

As of October 16, defense contractor Lockheed Martin said in a notice yesterday to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development that they should expect the imminent layoff of 47 individuals in the HRAccess and Transportation Worker’s Identification Credentials programs. The layoffs will be the result of Lockheed Martin’s decision to relocate those two programs.


The notice read,”Lockheed Martin has decided, due to business reasons, to relocate the HRAccess and Transportation Worker’s Identification Credentials (TWIC) Programs. As a result, the anticipated last day of operations is October 16, 2011.”

Employees were to be notified today.

 According to a report from the IndyStar, “Lockheed spokeswoman Sheila Collins in Rockville, Maryland, said in an e-mail that the jobs will be moved to Mississippi.” The report also quoted her as saying, "All affected employees were given the opportunity to apply for posted positions at the new Mississippi facility to continue supporting the TWIC and HR ACCESS programs."

However, the Lockheed Martin notice said, “We expect that these will be permanent rather than temporary layoffs,” signifying that the individuals who are being laid off in Indianapolis will not be invited to fill the positions in Mississippi.

The majority of the jobs to be cut in Indianapolis are clerical, with the Lockheed Martin notice identifying 30 clerk jobs to be eliminated. Nine of the 47 will be call center reps or management.

The Indiana Business Journal reported that the HRAccess program was created by Lockheed Martin for management of the TSA’s (Transportation Security Administration’s) human resources while the Transportation Worker’s Identification Credentials program had the function of enrolling and verifying the credentials of port workers across the country.

Lockheed Martin’s posted layoff notice stated, “The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act provides that with certain exceptions, employers of one hundred or more workers must give at least sixty days advance notice of a mass layoff.” According to the Indiana Business Journal report, Lockheed Martin has had to issue this notice before to employees in the same call center location. It said that in December 2010 Lockheed Martin cut 25 positions at this Indiana location, citing “declining call volumes” and “fundraising issues” apparently as a result of an $80 million five-year federal contact being cut short.  

In other news, ContactCenterSolutions reported, “Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy’s administration is preparing to eliminate a consumer call-in center that handles thousands of customers' questions and complaints each month about utility companies, as part of Malloy’s merger of the state's environmental protection and public utilities regulation agencies.”


Linda Dobel is a ContactCenterSolutions Contributor. She has been an editor in the contact center space for more than 25 years, and has the distinction of being the founding editor of Customer Inter@ction Solutions (CIS) magazine. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco



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