More than 250 people are expected to lose their jobs over the next two months at the Sitel call center in Starkville.
The employees will be laid off in two segments, with one group spending their last day at the facility on Feb. 2, and the other segment finishing their employment there on March 3.
According to Andrew Kokes, Sitel”s vice president of marketing, the layoffs come as a result of “the reduction in business needs” of two different Sitel customers. One is a health care company and the other is a high-speed internet provider, though Kokes did not identify the companies. The employees being laid off serve as customer service representatives for the companies.
“This is all due to their changing business needs,” Kokes said of the two companies.
At its peak, Sitel employed approximately 850 people at its facility in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park. Kokes did not know how many people work there now.
Sitel is working with other businesses and government agencies in the area to assist these individuals in finding new employment, Kokes said.
“We have been an active part of the Starkville business community for a number of years, so the decision to reduce our site here does not come easy,” Kendall Williams, site director of Sitel”s Starkville facility, said in a statement. “This reduction is due to the changing business needs of our clients and is in no way reflective of the quality of customer care provided by our associates.”
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