1500 jobs at Telecom may be lost overseas

The Dominion Post

Last updated 00:00 30/07/2008

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More than 1500 jobs are in doubt after Telecom announced it was looking at moving more of its call centre functions to the Philippines.

That leaves just one customer service - 128 for faults - not undergoing trials in Manila.

In an e-mail to all staff announcing the step, and obtained by The Dominion Post, customer service general manager Trish Keith said the trials themselves would not cause redundancies. But decisions about "resourcing levels for the functions involved" would be shaped by them. Any affected staff would be consulted before those decisions were made.

Ms Keith said Telecom had been open with staff and investors about its plans to investigate outsourcing, which was being undertaken because of the "clear financial benefits".

Telecom employs 1400 call centre staff in New Zealand, with a further 250 jobs outsourced within the country, as well as 450 "trial" positions based in Manila.

The new trials are due to run from September to December. Employees told The Dominion Post they were upset that the trials were "never-ending". One believed thousands of jobs would be lost, which would cause "a lot of anger and frustration" among the public.

Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the decision, which will lead to some mobile customers' queries being diverted overseas from September, would not have surprised staff. Trials in other areas, such as landline, broadband and dial-up Internet helpdesks, have been under way in Manila for some time.

He said Telecom was working in a highly competitive market and wanted the "most bang for its buck". He would not speculate on the need for redundancies.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said call centre staff were often undervalued by management, and differentiating features of Kiwi staff - such as being able to pronounce Maori names - were not given enough credit.

In the e-mail, Ms Keith said Telecom was "very clear on the need to put customers at the heart of our business".

"We need to ensure we're able to improve our responsiveness to customers, deliver greater efficiencies and provide first-class support for the range of new products we'll be bringing to the market," she wrote.

"We're totally committed to maintaining our high levels of customer service."

The move comes a year after Telecom acknowledged it was conducting a three-month trial in Manila with a focus on becoming a leaner organisation with fewer staff.

The largest Telecom call centre - with 400 staff based in Hamilton - has not hired any fulltime employees this year. Mr Watts said this was unrelated to the Manila trials.

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An employee said: "They are running a business. They have to cut costs because they have to answer to their shareholders."

Chief executive Paul Reynolds said in April that cutting operational spending - which included shifting call centre services overseas - would deliver savings of 20 to 25 per cent.

Telecom has moved 40 per cent of its broadband helpdesk workload to Manila, and is set to increase that to 60 per cent this year.

Mr Watts said Telecom was pleased with the work done in Manila. "Trials to date have been good for our customers."

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin, however, said customer service for Telecom's Internet service Xtra had sunk to new lows. In a survey run by Consumer, "an astonishing 25 per cent rated its performance as poor or very poor".

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52 comments

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Matt #52 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I will leave Telecom if they outsource, they are a greedy company cutting costs left right and centre ..however trying to disguise by putting up a xmas tree in Auckalnd .... WOW .. not ! I hope ALOT of ppl leave them if they do this, they show no respect for NZ'ers anyway and still charge us ALOT of money for line rental

Sam #51 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

What is Telecom's issue, they charge the highest line rentals and also find it hard to compete with other providers for internet, landline, mobile plans and also mobile handset costs. Why move call centres oversea's to people who are not competent to say the least. I have had to call the xtra broadband call centre several times for the same issue and it wasn't until I spoke to a rep in Auckland that the issue was fixed. Same thing for my landline trying to get a service added or removed was hell and it was only removed after I got a job stealer (oversea's rep) to transfer my call back to NZ where all our calls should stay.

Take 111 for example if they put that call centre overseas do you really think NZ'er would call 111 for assistance??? NO.... so why would we call 123 etc for assistance for our phone lines?

Telecom state that they are family focused etc and I thought they took pride in being a NZ owned and based company but they seem to for get that by moving all these jobs oversea's they are making it hard for NZ families to live, etc.

Loss of NZ jobs means loss of income for Telecom as NZ'ers will be taking their services else where..........

I think it is time that Telecom ask it's staff and customers what THEY want, not what the Telecom CEO and share holders want in their pockets........

SUPPORT NZ SUPPORT TELECOM CALL CENTRE STAFF AND CALL 123 TAKE THE SURVEY AND MARK NZ CALL CENTRE REPS AS 4'S AND OVERSEA'S REPS AS 1'S THAT WAY WE CAN HELP NZ CALL CENTRE STAFF KEEP THEIR JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elaine #50 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I am disappointed to hear that Telecom may be (Probably will) take more services out of New Zealand. I do not enjoy trying to explain my problems to someone who does not have English as a first language, who is difficult to understand. I shall seriously concider taking my business elsewhere.

Ian #49 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Personally, I like jumping on the bandwagon and making uninformed comments. There are good things and bad things about this. But does anyone really have the guts to go through with their hollow threats to go to other providers?

richarquis #48 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

@Robby - so if unbundling is to blame, then what reason for fisher and paykel and anz outsourcing? The unbundling didn't affect them, but they do it. Plain and simple greed seems to me to be the problem, with telecom, f&p, and anz. All guilty. I wonder if National, in their (cough) great concern for the welfare of NZ, will now withdraw, on principle, their offer of $1.5b for broadband? I know the cost of the outsourcing, in wage terms, is far less than that, around $45m if you assume $30,000 per person, but honestly, this is appalling behaviour on their part, and they should not be given handouts. I opposed that concept anyway, but especially so now. Maybe business does work that way, but that doesn't make it right, and we sure as hell shouldn't condone it or simply shrug our shoulders about it.

Matt #47 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Eventually most of telecom call centre staff in NZ are foreigners with short term work permits (i.e. Work & Holiday). So talking about Maori friendly or making job for New Zealanders is as irrelevant.

Eric #46 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I certainly will not deal with overseas call centres, I do not continue the call if I cannot understand the person speaking.

Rob #45 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

It time for all you New Zealanders to move to Aussie, soon you will have no jobs! Remember to turn off the lights on the way out!

joe blaney #44 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

They're cooking their own goose. NZ'ers should not put up with this crap. Send them on their way by canceling ALL your accounts with them.

Scott #43 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I use e-mail to contact Vodafone for non-urgent problems. And they never respond. Ever. And that includes things that are clearly flagged as complaints.

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