Jun. 2—ROCHESTER — Spectrum/Charter Communications
is pulling the plug on a business telemarketing center, where 60 people work on the
Rochester Technology Campus.
Employees at Spectrum say company officials met with them on Thursday to announce that their Spectrum Business telemarketing jobs in Rochester are ending this summer.
They were told that they could transfer to South Carolina, Texas or Florida to continue to work as telemarketers, according to employees at the meeting. The employees were also offered the opportunity to apply for hourly positions at Spectrum's other Rochester sites, including the video repair center at 5720 Bandel Road NW and 3993 Heritage Place NW office.
"As part of our ongoing work to serve customers more efficiently, we are transitioning the work done at our small Rochester telemarketing center to larger centers, effective Aug. 28," wrote Spectrum spokesperson Jay Saunders about the changes in Rochester. "Virtually all the employees have been offered roles at our video repair call center, located in the same Rochester business park. Employees at the center are eligible to apply for any role with the company for which they are qualified. Any employee who does not have a new position by the time the center closes will be eligible for comprehensive severance benefits."
Saunders also stated that "to this point in our initial conversations with the impacted employees, several have already committed to transitioning to the video repair center."
More than 60 percent of Spectrum's 900 Minnesota employees work in Rochester, according to Saunders. In 2017, Spectrum/Charter had 1,200 employees working in Rochester.
These late changes seem similar to
Spectrum's elimination of its Rochester business-to-business call center in 2019.
It was estimated that it affected up to 200 employees, according to insider estimates.
Spectrum/Charter originally
started leasing space on the former IBM campus
at 2900 37th St. NW in 2014, when it leased two 40,000-square-foot buildings, Building 002 and Building 333. The Spectrum Business call center is based in Building 005.
Spectrum Business employees who were in the briefing meetings say that officials said that while this was one of the company's more successful centers, the change is due to difficulty finding employees in Rochester.
Company officials disputed that.
"The calls will be handled in our larger U.S. telemarketing centers, where we can deliver information, training and technology to our representatives more efficiently," wrote Saunders.