Call Centre Closing

Convergys closing call centre
By Leanne Delong, Transcontinental Media

Source: The Digby Courier - December 15, 2010

[CORNWALLIS, NS] - The company informed Convergys its employees Tuesday.

“It really was an emotional day yesterday. A lot of people were pretty upset, nobody wants to hear this just before Christmas,” said one employee.

The employee added the closure is blamed on the Canadian and American dollars at near par.

Convergys offered its employees the opportunity to relocate to other locations in Halifax and New Glasgow, and employees in the work-at-home program would not be affected, said the employee.

“It’s really going to hurt this area, Convergys did a lot locally and pumped millions of dollars into the local economy.”

Digby mayor Ben Cleveland said with the loss of Convergys he wishes “people would stop saying no to development in this area because we’re not going to get ahead if we continue resisting change.”

“We’re going to continue working hard to find replacements for those jobs. We’ll talk to various levels of government to see what we can attract to the area,” he said.

Convergys opened the Cornwallis location in 2004. The facility is an inbound call centre offering customer service for a large U.S. wireless provider.

When the facility opened, Convergys signed a five-year renewable lease for the building with the Digby-Annapolis Development Corporation. The lease was renewed but expires in April.

Convergys has roughly 65,000 employees in 68 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.