Idaho Falls Post Register (Idaho), March 14, 2008, Friday
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Idaho Falls Post Register (Idaho)March 14, 2008, Friday
March 14, 2008, Friday
Main Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A1
BYLINE: By PAUL MENSER,
Source: The Global Call Center Report; International Perspectives on Management and Employment; Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School
BODY:
The company will hire 250 people in Idaho Falls after its expansion into a third call center.
Qwest is looking for another 250 people to work in its Idaho Falls call centers.
The company announced
Thursday it will be expanding into a third building on International Way, near the Idaho Falls Regional Airport. This will bring the
company's total full-time employment in Idaho Falls to nearly 800 and make it the largest single operation in the 14 states Qwest serves.
The four-county Bonneville Labor Market Area has been consistently posting the lowest unemployment numbers in the United States. But for a lot of people working low-wage jobs in the area, Qwest offers a way to move up, said Robin Adams, the lead recruiter for the company in Idaho Falls since 1999.
The new jobs will be sales and service positions for Qwest's residential products, including broadband, voice and video.
The starting pay for new positions at Qwest in Idaho Falls is $10.20 per hour, and representatives typically can earn an additional $2 per hour to $4 per hour in incentives after a 13-week training period. The positions come with full benefits for employees and their families.
Thursday's announcement was attended by Qwest officials from Boise and Denver; Roger Madsen, the director of the Idaho Department of Labor; and members of the Idaho Falls City Council.
Al Roberts, Qwest's senior vice president of sales, said the expansion will serve employees, the community, Qwest customers and shareholders.
""Two hundred and fifty more Qwest employees is a great thing for Idaho Falls,"" he said. ""The work force we've been able to recruit and retain has been good for our customers.""
Qwest was still US West when it set up its first call center on International Way in 1998. The state Department of Commerce, the Regional Development Alliance and the Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council (now Grow Idaho Falls) all had a hand in offering incentives for the company to come.
By 2002, however, the company had only 80 people working in Idaho Falls. Jim Schmit, Qwest's president in Idaho, said the company decided to bring in new management and bring the operation back up to capacity.
By 2004, Qwest announced it was leasing a second building and doubling its work force to 550. The announcement Thursday that even more jobs were being added bore a resemblance to the one in 2004, when operations manager Larry Walters got the biggest cheers from the assembled employees.
Jim Bisgard, the company's lead project manager, said the Qwest center in Idaho Falls has a turnover rate of about 20 percent. Industrywide, the turnover rate is more like 40 percent to 50 percent. About 80 percent of the people Qwest hires come in on personal referrals.
About 15 percent of the 250 people hired will be part time, Bisgard said.
Schmit said the first wave of new employees should be on the job by the first week of May.
Staff writer Paul Menser can be reached at 542-6752.
Did you know?
The majority of centers around the world - except India - serve their own domestic markets and consumers. There is no common global face to call centers because they tend to take on the character of their respective countries and regions based on that country's or region's laws, customs and norms.
Most call centers are relatively new and have emerged across the globe at about the same time, within the past five to 10 years.
Two-thirds of all call centers are in-house operations, serving a firm's own customers. Subcontractors operate the remaining one-third of centers. In-house centers across all countries have lower turnover rates and higher-quality jobs than subcontracted ones.
Staff turnover rates and costs are high. Turnover rates in the United States range from 25 percent to more than 50 percent per year, depending on the sector. Taking lost productivity into account, replacing one worker costs the equivalent of three or four months of an average worker's pay.
More than 50 percent of centers have some form of collective representation.
Get a job
Anyone interested in applying for a position with Qwest in Idaho Falls can find an application online at www.qwest.jobs or call a recruiter at (208) 533-2966. In addition, Qwest will be holding an open house job fair at the 1875 International Way site from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 26 and 27.
LOAD-DATE: March 14, 2008
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