Salisbury business closes call center in Maine

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Global Contact Services, headquartered in Salisbury, closed a call center Friday in Pittsfield, Maine, and laid off 65 people.

The closure came “in response to a major client’s sudden decision to suspend services,” George Simons, vice president of marketing for Global Contact Services, said in a press release.

“This unfortunate action is not a reflection of the performance of GCS as a company, nor due to any action of our associates,” Simons said. “The client made an abrupt decision to cease work and gave us no warning or time to replace the business in the center.”

The call center closed in one day. Employees made customer service calls for insurance, financial and telecommunications companies.

Global Contact Services had been pleased with the company’s experience in Pittsfield since opening in 2008, Simons said.

“The hardest part of such a decision is always the effect it has on our dedicated employees and the community,” he said. “Contact center jobs provide fulfilling work for many good people and communities like Pittsfield.”

According to the town of Pittsfield website, Global Contact Services was the seventh-largest employer in the town, population 4,215.

“We continue to look for long-term growth as an outsource provider of business services for our clients,” Simons said. “It is our objective to remain on track opening centers, not closing them.”

Greg Alcorn founded GCS, which operates call centers in the U.S. and the Philippines, 10 years ago. The company had its best financial years in 2009 and 2010, Alcorn said in July, by playing offense.

The GCS Salisbury location is a corporate office, not a call center, with between 30 and 40 employees.

The entire outsource contact center business is susceptible to cycles, just like many businesses, Simons said. Client needs and strategies change, some client business is seasonal, and technological advancements replace or create jobs, he said.

Since beginning in 2001, the company has opened 14 call centers. Today, there are nine.

“But that doesn’t mean we are not in a growth mode,” Simons said.

In some cases, GCS gained efficiency by consolidating centers or moving out of older ones into bigger ones, he said, and in other instances, the company pulled out of weaker labor markets.

The recent closing was due to a client immediately pulling business for internal reasons, Simons said.

“It had nothing to do with our people or our performance,” he said. “Worse, because there was no warning, it left us few options to ease the impact on our employees and the communities affected by the closure.”

While the needs of long-time clients often change, giving the company no time to react is unusual, Simons said.

“Still, we are optimistic,” he said. “We have new programs and clients with strong upside.”

Many companies are looking for outsource providers like GCS to deliver customer service, enroll new customers and manage administrative tasks more efficiently than in-house operations, he said.

“This week was certainly a dip, but our people, and our company history, demonstrate we are built to climb,” Simons said.

GCS clients have included AIG, Bank of America, Valero Energy, JP Morgan Chase, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Wachovia and American Express.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.