IMGCAP(1)]
Teleperformance USA, a global outsourced technology provider, will cut 151 employees at its Columbus, Ohio call center at the end of January after a large client decided to consolidate operations.
The center offers customer support for a client that has decided to operate in fewer locations, Teleperformance said in a letter posted Thursday on the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Web site. Teleperformance officials would not name the client.
"Teleperformance USA will continue to pursue alternative clients for the Columbus location with the objective of retaining the current work force," Jackie Stiteler, vice president of human resources, wrote in the filing. "However, there is no guarantee that the company will be able to do this once our current client's business has concluded on Jan. 31, 2010."
Teleperformance announced last summer that it was eliminating more than 200 jobs at the call center at the end of August. The newly announced cuts are separate from the August layoffs, Stiteler wrote, although they are at the same call center.
Just one year ago, Teleperformance announced plans to hire 900 people in central Ohio and split the jobs between two sites in the Columbus area. The company merged with CallTech Communications in 2005.
Teleperformance, with world headquarters in France, has 281 centers and 83,000 employees around the world.
Last week, Teleperformance UK told Collections & Credit Risk that it had bought the assets of Improved Financial Solutions (IMFS), a UK-based collection agency, for an undisclosed fee.
Teleperformance has pegged debt collection as a growth area as the UK economy continues to struggle. More than 25,000 people are employed in the UK in collections and, according to the country's Credit Service Association, that figure is set to rise rapidly as the effects of the recession linger.
