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Verizon Ends Over 1,000 Jobs in Pennsylvania Call Centers

Starting on May 8th, Verizon (News - Alert) will be closing the doors to five of its customer-support call centers, which will affect the careers of around 5,200 employees. In the state of Pennsylvania, this means over 1,000 jobs lost in the communities of Cranberry Woods and Warrendale.

Of these employees, 600 are customer service representatives, 200 work in telesales, and 230 of them are in Verizon's business and government support department. The announcement was made by several company leaders to employees last week during a series of meetings.

According to Carolyn Schamberger, the executive director of public relations in Verizon's Midwest Area, Verizon is closing these call centers in an effort to realign those positions to fill empty seats in contact centers around the country. The employees who worked at the call centers are encouraged to fill one of thousands of vacant slots in the remaining 22 Verizon customer support centers across the United States.

Schamberger reaffirms employees and the rest of the world that they still highly value these workers, officially stating that, “This is not a layoff. This is not a headcount reduction... These are highly trained and highly skilled employees, and we want them to stay.” In an effort to make things easier for the employees, those who elect relocation to another facility will receive $10,000 in moving expenses after taxes, and will be offered $500 to defray travel costs if they simply want to visit one of the Verizon call centers in another state. “We want to do everything we can to support our employees through this transaction,” Schamberger said.

Unfortunately, many employees like Kacie Boeshore do not feel the same way. “Nobody knew anything was happening,” said Boeshore concerning the office closure, “I lost my job and thought this was a career for me.” Even with the $10,000 relocation funds, Boeshore sees moving unlikely because, as she simply states, “I have a family at home.”


Edited by Rory J. Thompson