Call-centre shift

Palmerston North's 111 emergency call centre winds down this weekend as Telecom moves its operations to Wellington.

The former Sitel centre will remain operational with temporary staff during the transition.

Telecom spokeswoman Kath Murphy said Wellington staff, some of whom had transferred from Palmerston North, had started handling some of the 111 calls.

From Monday, the Wellington centre will be operating fulltime.

Palmerston North equipment and temporary staff would remain on deck as backup, able to take any diverted calls until the transition was completed and all systems were proven to be working properly.

Telecom's contract with Sitel ended last month. About 11 of the original 32 staff had gone to the Wellington inbound-call-answering point, and another 13 were working as temporary staff for Kelly Services in Palmerston North. The last of them are expected to remain on site until November handling international assistance calls.

- © Fairfax NZ News