1500 jobs at Telecom may be lost overseas

The Dominion Post

Last updated 23:09 29/07/2008

Relevant offers

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.

Ad Feedback

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".

MOVING OUT

* Fisher & Paykel axed 350 staff when washing machine production moved to Thailand.

* ANZ National Bank moved 238 backoffice jobs in Wellington and Auckland to India.

* Vodafone NZ began outsourcing customer support to a call centre in Cairo.

* Yellow Pages Group transferred its call centre contract to the Philippines with the loss of more than 100 jobs in Palmerston North.

Dominion Post Homepage

Sponsored links

Share this page

Email Facebook MySpace Digg StumbleUpon Delicious Reddit Linkedin Twitter

11 comments

Expand All

Oldest First

Craig Hiddleston #11 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

How can Telecom think that by moving to Manilla that their customer service will improve. Its bad enough not getting through to someone that understands english. Bad enough axing jobs but even more disgusting of giving employment to people in another country who dont even understand problems and culture in NZ

I will certainly not deal with Telecom again, hello Telstraclear.

Mary #10 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Labour economics is very simple: Filipino people are prepared to do the work for less than New Zealanders are, so they get the work.

Those who object are simply being racist. There is no reason why Bella from Manila should be less able to resolve telecoms problems than Hone from Hamilton: Bella's ability to pronounce Hone's name is irrelevant to how well she can fix his phone. And she's used to working in multiple languages so with training, she can probably pronounce it better than Jane from Epsom will, anyway!

Jessica #9 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I live in the UK and it seems like all the contact centres are based overseas,I have switched mobile phone companies as I had to ring 3 times before I got someone I could understand! Its a nightmare, everything is based overseas, on the plus side, as marketing point a few companies are pointing out their contact centres are in the UK and I'd be going with those ones!

Looks like I'll be changing my phones over when I get back to NZ!

Gavin G #8 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

The solution is simple vote with your feet or (let your fingers do the walking) deal with a provider that is NZ based and has a NZ call centre. Its your choice and right to do so.

It is so frustrating dealing with someone who doesn't understand english and NZ mannerisms.

If Telecom is doing it for their shareholders with a mass exodus of customers it will certainly cost them more in the long run and some very unhappy shareholders.

With a bit of luck Trish Keith & Paul Reynolds from Telecom might also have their jobs outsourced to Manila wouldn't that be something or just karma.

craig #7 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

SHELL NZ ARE ALSO MOVING BCKROOM OPERATIONS/CALL CENTRE STFF OFFSHORE AT THE END OF NOV..APPROX 40 STAFF .

Katrina #6 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I have no problem with outsourcing so long as I can get someone human on the phone that speak english and has the knowledge to be able to help me.

Im with Amber I feel bad for the telecom employees and once it becomes permanent they wont see my money again either!!

Amber #5 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I am absolutely DISGUSTED by this stupid move from Telecom! I was unfortunate enough to call Telecom and receive one of their "trial" staff in Manila - Not only did they mess up my query completely, but I was so frustrated I had to call again in the hopes I got an english speaking NZer! I was lucky enough to have someone who understood me, which I was so thankful for - even though I had to sit on the phone for 40 minutes while they fixed the problem at hand. I felt really sorry for the NZ staff who not only have to deal with these people taking their jobs, but they have to sit there and FIX their incompetencies!

Telecom.. As soon as you make this permanent - You'll never see my money again!

Lloyd Dominic #4 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

With all the money Telecom saves- surely they will reduce charges to phone services, broadband and calls! No wait.......may be they can increase the wages of the CEO and board for comming up with the money saving strategy.

Nicole #3 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

What happended to supporting Kiwis? Stuff Telecom you guys SUCK!

Sarah #2 05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I think it's despicable. Telecom are the original telecommunications provider - they are a New Zealand institution. It's loyalty to a national icon that has kept me with Telecom over and above Vodaphone and Telstra Clear, despite price advantages with the other companies. I have rung Telecom service centres over the past few months and dealt with someone who was obviously not a New Zealander - they don't understand our culture, they can't pronounce basic words (either English or Maori), they are hard to understand and they gave me no confidence whatsoever. If Telecom decide to move their customer service to Manila permanently I will be changing to Vodaphone and Telstra Clear immediately - quite difficult given my telecommunications requirements are extensive - but I'm prepared to do it.

Ad Feedback

Show 1-1 of 11 comments

Dominion Post Headlines

RSS