O Canada! > Canadian > Telus > Rumour: Massive layoffs at Telus

reply to no name

Re: Rumour: Massive layoffs at Telus

When the economy in Canada needs boosting with people spending their salaries in Canada.
How can Telus be helping our economy with 7000 employees in the Philippines? When they get their take home pay it goes into the economy of the Philippines not Canada.
This even affects Telus's business because those laid-off workers across Canada can now only afford the basic services from Telus.!!!!!
There are many persosn in our own country like school leavers would love to start their careers with Telus in the call centres and work their way up the ladder.
In the state the world and Canada is at the moment these jobs should be on our own shores not feeding another countries economy..

»economictimes.indiatimes.com/New···6088.cms

Canada's Telus plans captive ops in India, likely to start hiring soon
Dec 2008, 0127 hrs IST, N Shivapriya & Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Undeterred by the terror attacks on India, Telus International, the contact centre arm of Canada’s second-largest telco Telus Mobility, is planning to set up captive operations in the country.

“The company has identified a few people for senior positions in India. It is likely to recruit a few hundred people to begin with. The exact location and city has not yet been finalised,” a source familiar with the development told ET.

The Canadian operator is planning to set up back-office functions from the captive and may also look at IT functions at a later date, he added. In an email to ET, Telus senior communications manager Shawn Hall said: “Telus is looking at several countries around the world for new sites. While I can confirm India is among the countries Telus International is considering, we have no firm plans we can discuss at this time.”

Telus International provides contact center solutions, applications management, technology infrastructure management and BPO services to some of the world’s largest companies in IT, telecommunications, consumer electronics, financial services and energy and utilities.

Telus has over 7,000 employees in the Philippines. It plans to set up another office there at Cubao, Quezon City, in 2009. The majority of the workforce employed in the Philippines is used for North American call centre support.

Gaurav Dua, country head and principal of research firm, Everest Group, said despite all the noise about captives closing down and becoming unviable, new captives continued being set up.

“In Q3, 21 captives were set up globally. In India, at least three firms have announced additional or new centres. Captives are used as a means to expand and do more work as opposed to work with third party firms, which is more limited,” he said.

Decisions to set up captive units are being evaluated more carefully, especially with third party vendors now having scale and capability for many functions.

“Telus International has three contact centres in Manila that are reaching capacity. In response to customer demand we are looking at sites that afford us the opportunity to offer customers service in new languages, in particular Spanish, as many of our clients are US-based,” according to the Telus spokesperson.
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"In the future, that which is not mandatory will be illegal"

reply to Shawn Hall
Hello Shawn,

I didn't think TELUS' media relations would ever post here. I understand your job is to massage the message so to speak. But I'm rather disgusted with TELUS calling layoffs an "efficiency program."

As a long time customer (25+ for telephone and 12-13 years for internet) I can safely say that TELUS' customer support has been sharply declining in quality ever since the company decided to offshore call center employees.

What used to be a quick fix taking merely a few minutes now takes several calls, only to be told that I would need to wait for an onshore employee to actually resolve my issue. Maybe, just maybe, if TELUS were to focus on improving business processes and support on shore, your customers would be happier...

I am actually a big TELUS fan boy and have enjoyed their internet products and television products (even though there were massive problems at the time) and I wish TELUS would focus on core growth rather than trying to pinch pennies. Increasing shareholder profits are the number one goal of any company, but I fear TELUS is buying into the short-term planning over the longer term.

Take care,

MrBlack

(PS: feel free to respond to any or all of this via PM or here, publicly. I don't expect a response but I'd be pleasantly surprised if I did.)

reply to Shawn Hall
I have 27 yrs with Telus as a clerical employee. I have been off due to harassment and bullying by Telus managers. I wonder if I will be offered a package or do I need to come back to this environment of bad treatment.

reply to MrBlack
In all fairness, supposed poor customer support, re offshore call centers, is more than offset by the great customer service offered by field technicians, "once" they are dispatched to resolve a problem.

Secondly, I can't count the number of times people who have dealt with overseas call centers, some in this very forum, who's main complaint is not the service, but the fact that the rep's don't speak very good English...

...now you'd think that in this melting pot that we call Canada, it wouldn't be an issue, but apparently it still is, right here in Red Neck Alberta.

Also, to deny people in a third world country, the right to make a decent living, on the amount of money each month that a Canadian worker wouldn't even spit at...

...simply adds insult to injury.

Nobody would deny anyone in the world making a decent living
Canada is going though hard times .Therefore the pay packets should be spent in Canada not in the economy of another country.

reply to Randsl Dude
In the Second World War, During a time of great hardship, there was 'The Victory Garden'. To feed the homeland. That will become a broken record over the next two years of turmoil. People getting angry of lost jobs here, while the jobs get recreated someplace else at half the pay.

Have never really had any problem with the out of country support, even though it was never technical issues. Just did package changes to phone or Internet.
I have a problem understanding 'tones' of voice and find that some off shore support is hard to understand(mainly women) as the words merge or roll together. That is probably the real complaint to do with the 'Can't understand' complaints.

Canada is actually 'not' a melting pot. The flag of multiculturalism flies high by the Government. And that historically actually causes more problems due to different rules for different peoples.

I suppose Telus is still ticked off about the strike a few years ago, where Telus also censored many web sites, to stop the one site that was critical of Telus.
»www.opennet.net/bulletins/010
Unions were strong once, but that time has passed.

But just what is a fair wage for 'Skilled' workers? And not a 'script reader'. A skilled worker hears the problem and issues a fix that works, all within 5 minutes. A script reader can go through the list for 30 minutes and finally get the answer.
I have come across some people who will not work below a certain wage, due to wanting too much possessions in life Or just even being able to afford to eat every meal time. But anything below $10 an hour now a days can be considered the poor house with the price of rent or owning a home. And the little brats that want everything with no questions asked by the Parents. The commercials say to consume, but people can't afford to do that.

And just how much does Telus pay in International long distance charges for Call support and how many high ranking managers take many plane trips to the country of the support workers? For business purposes. If Telus were to add all that up, imagine the savings. Corporate jets can cost millions a year(plus the purchase of the plane and flight crew).

Sure the other countries people need to work too, but at what cost? There people live in large family units to live life on meager wages. Here people hate the deadbeat brother who sleeps on his relations couches in a rotating schedule.
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Consumer Rights is more than just a suggestion.

reply to Randsl Dude

If Yak plans to hire Canadians for $11 - $13 to man the phones I feel sorry for their customers. $11 - $13 will hardly get you a decent data entry clerk let alone a qualified customer service representative.

reply to Randsl Dude
Well, the issue isn't whether the good service here is enough to mitigate the poor service received from off shore support, it shouldn't be either. Having good field techs are great (let me just say, every single field tech who ever came out for my TTV issues were GREAT, not just good or adequate, each and every one of them rocked) but having poor off shore support isn't remedied with having great techs.

I used to call TELUS if our DSL line dropped out at any hour of the day (thankfully, this hasn't happened in a LONG time) and I'd have someone on the phone who solved the issue or checked in with a different tier to see if they could get an ETA.

As a child born of two immigrants, it's great that TELUS strives to have equal opportunities for all people, but phone support is one of those places where the ability to communicate is paramount. I can speak Hindi so when I often get offshored to an Indian call center with other countries, it is simply easier for me to speak Hindi and get things resolved faster. In Canada I don't deal with accents every day and generally most people understand what I'm saying. Having to repeat myself or have another repeat themselves just make a situation more frustrating.

It doesn't have to do with the specific country, if TELUS off shored to Scotland it'd be the same issue - I can't understand thick Scottish accents. Canada is a melting pot and it's wonderful, but when I go out to eat ethnic foods we can always try to figure something out with the wait staff if they don't speak English - either pointing at the menu or trying to communicate non-verbally. There is no option for that on a call.

I don't think that is denying third world workers the right to make a decent living. But perhaps jobs where strong English communication skills are necessary should be filled with individuals who have strong English communication skills. Nobody would hire me to service French Canada because my French is poor and it'd just piss people off.

I've worked the call centers and I know how frustrating it is when both parties can speak the same language without accents; when you start throwing accents and cultural differences into the mix, it doesn't make things easier.

Either start hiring individuals off shore who are better able to communicate in English or hire more people in Canada or the US.

This thread is nothing to do with accents. it is to do with layoffs and employment in Canada during these tough economic
times.....Layoffs and hiring offshore means less persons putting their pay cheque back in our own Country.
Canada is a multicultural nation many of us have different accents.
In these very hard times with thousands loosing their jobs and school leavers having to wander around the streets getting sometimes into mischief.Jobs should be kept in Canada.
Oh and some of these school leavers are more computer savvy than we old timers.

reply to MrBlack
Why not out source the communication liaison, cut bonuses, improve service and go back to a regulatory market. Gee that sounds like socialism.....no it sounds like effect service development. Why hasn't Telus been forced into providing province wide Internet service, just as they gave us province wide telephone service?
I think its because the 'fat cats' like Entwhisle only want large bonuses though cherry picking the urban markets. The CEO's don't give a hoot about what is good for Canadians, they only care about self-preservation and their own brokerage accounts. They restrict market access through denial of development.

Regulation worked for over 100 years for the phone system and it could easily do the same thing for Internet access through out the province of Alberta. Stop treating communication as a business and start treating it like a utility. Canada needs to evolve its communication networks and under private enterprise it restricts equal access for the whole province/country. Think how much spinoff development would occur if everyone had access to cheap high speed Internet communication every where in Canada. Who cares what Entwhisle's bank account looks like, let him work for a living instead of sponging off of opportunistic cherry picking of urban markets. Open markets don't work for utilities....that's just a myth spun by CEO's to promote privatization. The only ones who benefit from this have a board room seat.
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Alberta Lakes belong to all Albertans, not just the developers!

Too funny, Telus should be mandated to provide Internet services, universally, to everyone in Canada, whether they live in an urban center or an igloo in Timbuktu...

...not because people need communication for a life threatening emergency, no, just so joe blow can play World of War Crack, or download videos and music, or e-pop their Grandmother back in Lithuania.

What the heck, why not mandate Telus to do it for free...

I don't know what planet that kind of thinking comes from ...

...but the Berlin wall was knocked down 19 years ago.

reply to zalternate

reply to Randsl Dude
Go ahead take my statements and put them out of context, its a witness to your low IQ.
You don't understand utilites, nor; do you understand the value of regulated markets. You probably believe in private healthcare and want to eliminate CPP.


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Alberta Lakes belong to all Albertans, not just the developers!

Lakebottom :

"Why not out source the communication liaison, cut bonuses, improve service and go back to a regulatory market. Gee that sounds like socialism.....no it sounds like effect service development. Why hasn't Telus been forced into providing province wide Internet service, just as they gave us province wide telephone service?"

Just to appease you, and to keep things in context, I've posted your very own words, despite my low IQ...

...if not understanding utilities and the value of regulated markets, means that the Government can step into the realm of private companies and arbitrarily take control of their enterprise for the "good" of a few disgruntled internet geeksters, like yourself, then gee, I'd have to say, that's an understanding that I'd rather do without...

...in fact, I'm sure that my comment about the Berlin wall, has totally escaped you, despite the fact you feel you have a superior IQ.