On Wednesday February 12th, mobile carrier Verizon Wireless officially made the announcement that they would be closing five of their customer contact centers, and relocating some of those jobs to other contact centers around the country. Verizon workers were very shocked to hear that their jobs would soon come to an end, as they would have to either move across the country to work in contact centers with vacant space or seek employment elsewhere. The closures will begin to take effect in May, giving workers only a short period of time to plan ahead.
When previously reported, the reasoning behind why Verizon was making this move were unclear, but a recent statement by Verizon explains that the consolidations of customer contact centers is part of a plan to make better use of the company's existing facilities. By closing down five contact centers in three states, Verizon will be committing fewer resources to managing more offices, as well as filling the vacant spaces in existing call centers. By increasing the efficiency of some call centers while shutting down others, Verizon hopes to increase the overall efficiency of their call centers nationwide.
The affected call centers are dedicated to providing customer support for Verizon customers, and affects approximately 5,200 employees in total. Employees are encouraged to relocate to one of the remaining 26 call centers that Verizon employs, or seek another job locally. Either way, these employees are being offered a relocation assistance package purported to be worth around $10,000 after taxes according to Verizon.
Verizon is also supporting their employees who wish to visit New York offices with $500 in order to make travel costs easier for employees. For many however, this will not be enough to support their family's transition to an entirely new state or city. Of around 600 total employees at the Cranberry Township call centers, only 40 are being offered jobs at the nearby Warrendale facility. The rest are being asked politely, yet firmly, to leave.