Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dish Network: Firings 'business as usual'
The 30 workers let go from a Christiansburg call center were not laid off, a spokeswoman said.
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The sprawling Dish Network call center in Christiansburg fired 30 employees last week. Company spokeswoman Francie Bauer emphasized that the job cuts occurred in the normal course of hiring workers and letting them go and were not layoffs.
She did not use the word "fired." She said the employees were released.
"We have to make decisions sometimes that are in the best interests of the company," she said. "We're always looking at streamlining operations."
She estimated that the call center, also known in the industry as "contact centers," still employs nearly 900 people.
"It's always a difficult decision," Bauer said. "But it's business as usual."
Bauer acknowledged hearing that some of the affected workers have reacted angrily, especially given the holiday season timing of the terminations.
"Admittedly, it's a tough time," she said.
Dish Network Corp., a publicly traded satellite TV provider, is based in Englewood, Colo.
On Dec. 10, the company announced it had exceeded 14 million customers.
On Nov. 9, Dish Network released third-quarter 2009 financial results and reported that total revenues had dropped when compared with the same period in 2008. Profits also dropped during the quarter when compared with 2008.
Call center expert Paul Stockford said in an e-mail Tuesday that the industry experienced ups and downs in 2009, but preliminary estimates suggest a net gain of jobs across contact centers.
"The losing side of contact center jobs focused mainly on the travel, hospitality, entertainment and retail market segments," he said. "Big gains were made in financial services, telecommunications and government."
In recent years, as manufacturing jobs have continued to decline, call centers have become major employers in Southwest, central and Southside Virginia.
