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Welcome Back Home, Call Center Work

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

According to a news article, in the Rochester, New York Democrat-Chronicle, the popular notion of call center jobs always going to places like India or The Philippines isn’t telling the whole story.

In 2012, the Democrat-Chronicle reports, “DialAmerica plans to move to larger space on Brighton-Henrietta Townline Road and add to its staff by as much as 40 percent.” Verizon Wireless' (News - Alert) Henrietta call center employs about 1,200 people, up from 900 five years ago and 100 in 2000, the article points out, adding that “Pioneer Credit Recovery employs some 1,000 at its Wyoming County operations in Perry and Arcade, about double what it did a decade ago.”

Part of the repatriation is due to local government giving tax breaks to business process outsourcing companies to relocate to their areas. Part of it is due to companies deciding to give genuine American English-speaking customer assistance to customers tired of trying to decipher thick foreign accents. And part of it is simply the expansion of the call center industry.

The Democrat-Chronicle reports that “between 4 percent and 5 percent of the workforce in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut works in call centers,” citing industry research firm ContactBabel's (News - Alert) 2011 U.S. Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide.

Let’s face it, 99 percent of all companies view call centers as overhead. If all customer service could be done via IVR it would be. So when it comes to hiring and training call center employees, the watchword is “cheap.” Cheapest labor possible, cheapest training possible is the order of the day.

When located in the United States at all, call centers were put in the cheapest labor markets -- rural Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, places where the locals were willing to do the work just to have any job.

But nowadays being able to say “Hey, all our call center agents are American” is a competitive advantage. The Democrat-Chronicle points to New Jersey-based DialAmerica, which makes a point of telling clients that all their agents are American, and “our clients are knocking on our door for us to expand," a company official said.

Yes there are still significant foreign call center operations. But a lot of the work is coming back home.

[http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111206/BUSINESS/112060314] in the Rochester, New York Democrat-Chronicle, the popular notion of call center jobs always going to places like India or The Philippines isn’t telling the whole story.

In 2012, the Democrat-Chronicle reports, “DialAmerica plans to move to larger space on Brighton-Henrietta Townline Road and add to its staff by as much as 40 percent.” Verizon Wireless' Henrietta call center employs about 1,200 people, up from 900 five years ago and 100 in 2000, the article points out, adding that “Pioneer Credit Recovery employs some 1,000 at its Wyoming County operations in Perry and Arcade, about double what it did a decade ago.”

Part of the repatriation is due to local government giving tax breaks to business process outsourcing companies to relocate to their areas. Part of it is due to companies deciding to give genuine American English-speaking customer assistance to customers tired of trying to decipher thick foreign accents. And part of it is simply the expansion of the call center industry.

The Democrat-Chronicle reports that “between 4 percent and 5 percent of the workforce in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut works in call centers,” citing industry research firm ContactBabel's 2011 U.S. Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide.

Let’s face it, 99 percent of all companies view call centers as overhead. If all customer service could be done via IVR it would be. So when it comes to hiring and training call center employees, the watchword is “cheap.” Cheapest labor possible, cheapest training possible is the order of the day.

When located in the United States at all, call centers were put in the cheapest labor markets -- rural Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, places where the locals were willing to do the work just to have any job.

But nowadays being able to say “Hey, all our call center agents are American” is a competitive advantage. The Democrat-Chronicle points to New Jersey-based DialAmerica, which makes a point of telling clients that all their agents are American, and “our clients are knocking on our door for us to expand," a company official said.

Yes there are still significant foreign call center operations. But a lot of the work is coming back home.