One of the truly unsung benefits of a town being a place where call centers want to set up shop is that the communities can see a real uptick when it comes to people finding jobs. Some communities have gone out of their way to be friendly to the call center market specifically because they understand that with new call centers come hundreds of new jobs.
One community that is hoping to become one that is friendlier to the call center business is Columbus, Ohio. The city was recently told by ContactUS Communications that it will bring a new call center that will eventually employ 350 workers if the company can secure some tax breaks. The city is due to decide about whether or not it can afford to give those tax breaks to the firm in the near future. The manager of the customer contact company recently unveiled to the Columbus city council a five-year plan that will lead to 25 percent job growth in the city.
Now the city council must decide if the plan is one they can trust to be accurate and whether or not the incentives they have been asked for are worth it. While every community would like to see its citizens get more jobs whenever they can, there are certain drawbacks that must be considered. El Paso, Texas is one community that used to be very friendly to call centers, until the city council decided that the jobs that were being brought in weren’t high-paying enough to be truly beneficial to the city’s citizens.
The value of the jobs is one thing that community leaders in Columbus will have to take into consideration when deliberating on the proposal. Should the plan come to fruition, ContactUs says it has already picked out the facility it will house its call center in. A 100,000 square foot building that was once meant for a Kroger grocery store will be re-tasked for the call center, should everything go right.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson