Brownsville call centers close down, but Pharr’s Convergys location continues to recruit new hires

March 18--Call center jobs in Brownsville are becoming scarcer: After celebrating 14 years in the city just six months ago, Convergys has closed its doors.

Also, Maximus Inc., which moved in to the former T-Mobile call center building last summer, is letting go of up to 750 employees out of a work force of 1,135, according to Pat Hobbs, executive director of Workforce Solutions Cameron.

Despite those closings, Pharr'sConvergys location continues to pursue new hires, a company spokeswoman said.

Hobbs said he was told Convergys lost the contract it had been servicing in Brownsville. Individual call centers deal with a particular client and set of services they're under contract to deliver, and such contracts "come and go" based on the whim of the client -- normally a function of revenues and profits, he said.

Convergys closed its doors Jan. 21.

Hobbs said WSC met with Maximus on Feb. 25 for a "Rapid Response" -- Workforce Solutions' reemployment service -- in preparation for a partial layoff, with some or most of the positions being rehired in July when Maximus expects a new contract.

The company plans to eliminate approximately 1,600 jobs at its Boise, Idaho, call center effective April 25. In a letter to those employees, Helene Fisher, program manager/vice president of the company's federal services division, described Maximus as a subcontractor under contract to General Dynamics Information Technology.

In turn, GDIT provides "support to consumers who require assistance and information related to the Affordable Care Act, (ACA), which is managed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)," Fisher wrote.

According to the letter, the layoffs in both cities are due to the "nature of the contract and the reduced volume of calls, both of which are directly related to the enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act."

"As the enrollment period ends, fewer employees are needed to support the reduced call volume," Fisher wrote.

March 31 is the deadline this year to sign up for health insurance under ACA.

Hobbs said all Maximus' 1,350 employees in Brownsville have received a WARN letter, required by federal law to notify employees in advance of mass layoffs or plant closings, though the employees who will actually be affected will be notified "on or about April 11."

WARN stands for "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification."

Hobbs said his group and the Texas Workforce Commission are making plans to provide Rapid Response services at Maximus on the date the layoffs take place.

Gilbert Salinas, vice president of the Brownsville Economic Council, said Convergys was the first big call center to come to Brownsville.

"It opened it up for a string of other call centers to come in," he said. "It was a big deal when they came in."

PHARR LOCATION TO STAY OPEN

Although Convergys' location in Brownsville closed, its call center in Pharr will not follow suit, said Brooke Beiting, media relations specialist for the Cincinnati-based company.

"Pharr is business as usual," she said. "We're definitely hiring."

Convergys published a news release Thursday saying the Pharr center is "going strong in the midst of construction" during the demolition and rebuilding of El Centro Mall.

Convergys' building will remain at the shopping center, which is in the middle of a demolition to bring in new venues, including Main Event, a family gaming center. The call center continues to pursue new hires in Pharr.

"We are looking for ambitious individuals who can work from our contact center, and have a passion for providing great customer service and promoting our client's products and services," Andrew Lindeman, site director at the Pharr center, said in the news release. "We are reaching out into our community to fill these openings, because these are not only terrific positions, they are great stepping stones to a career in operations, recruitment, or training."

Pat Hobbs said that economic considerations contributed to the decision to close the Brownsville location.

"To my knowledge, the Convergys call center here in Brownsville closed because they lost their contract and could not afford to stay in operation," he said via e-mail.

Regulations connected to the Affordable Care Act, or 'Obamacare,' did not cause the Brownsville facility to close, Hobbs said.

To my knowledge," he said, "the costs associated with ACA mandates had nothing to do with the center's closing."

360 workers lost their positions as a result of the Brownsville call center closing, Hobbs said. Some have transferred to the company's Pharr site, while others have turned to unemployment insurance, he said.

Hobbs doesn't anticipate that Convergys will expand in the region.

I don't foresee another Convergys location opening in the Valley," he said.

He did leave the door open to the possibility that an additional company could come.

"There have been queries from other call center companies interested in locating here," he said.

Monitor staff writer Dan Santella contributed to this report.

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