Witchita
is well positioned to attract
more call centers
BY DAN VOORHIS
The Wichita Eagle
The glamour long ago rubbed
off the call center industry
because of low wages and the
tendency of some centers to
leave in the middle of the
night.
Yet, in Wichita, the industry
is on the upswing with new
and expanded centers. The sector
now employs roughly 5,000 people,
about as high as it has ever
been in the city.
Should Wichita be happy about
this? And can we expect more?
The answer is yes, and probably
yes, say experts.
It's a good possibility that
we will get more call centers
because Wichita has available
locations and labor, said Patrick
French, president of the Greater
Wichita Economic Development
Coalition.
Wichita is fairly well positioned
nationally as call centers
work to cut costs without alienating
callers.
Overall, experts disagree
whether the call center industry
will expand or contract in
the U.S. in the next few years.
Many companies are sending
call center jobs to India or
replacing them with electronic
systems.
But experts do agree that
the call centers that remain
will be more sophisticated
and pay better.
What call centers offer
Perhaps because of their low
wages, call centers play an
underappreciated role in the
Wichita economy, said Janet
Harrah, director of the Center
for Economic Development and
Business Research at Wichita
State University.
Regular call center employees
generally average $10 to $12
an hour, far below the Sedgwick
County average wage of $19.90
an hour for all workers.
But the jobs offer flexible
hours for students, working
mothers, military spouses and
anyone with outside demands
on their time.
"People think work should
be 8 to 5 Monday through Friday
for multiple years," Harrah
said. "But for many people
that's not possible or desirable."
And while the pay may not
be great, call centers often
provide benefits such as health
insurance and 401(k) accounts
as incentives to keep workers,
said David Butler, director
of the Call Center Research
Laboratory at Southern Mississippi
University and executive director
of the National Association
of Call Centers.
That is key, he said, to allowing
a spouse to work another job
without health care insurance
and still have a viable safety
net for a family.
Each call center employee
supports one-half of another
job, she said. That's slightly
higher than retail workers,
although far below aircraft
workers.
You
wouldn't want to build an
economy around call centers
because the pay is too low,
Harrah said. But they do provide
key benefits to the workers
who do those jobs and to the
quality of the work force in
general.
"In order to have a viable
work force, you need entry-level
jobs," she said.
More call centers here?
Call centers, particularly
those owned by call center
companies, move around quite
a bit in search of lower costs.
They are looking for communities
with suitable buildings and
employees, French said. And
that's good news for Wichita,
which likely will gain more
call centers in the next year
or so.
"We've had some closures,
giving us some available buildings
and work force," French
said. "When we talk to
the consultants, they don't
consider Wichita to be oversaturated."
Two of Wichita's newest call
centers, InfoNXX and NuComm,
moved into old call centers,
creating nearly 1,500 jobs.
InfoNXX took over the MCI call
center at East 32nd Street
North and NuComm into the APAC
center at 600 S. Tyler Road.
Wichita has at least one sizable
call center available, the
former Spiegel call center
building at 7236 E. Harry.
But French said call center
companies will also look at
large empty retail or office
buildings.
Wichita has the work force.
Less than 2 percent of Wichita's
work force is employed by call
centers, about half the national
average, according to a 2006
study by ContactBabel, a British
market research firm.
A large proportion of call
centers are located in California
and the Northeast. Many of
those are searching for locations
with lower costs, said Butler,
with the National Association
of Call Centers.
One of Wichita's advantages
is its reputation for strong
work ethic -- employee turnover
is a constant and costly problem
in the call center industry.
But many call center companies
are skipping over low-cost
states and moving overseas,
where workers earn $2 to $3
an hour, according to a study
by the Boyd Co. as reported
in Call Center Magazine.
APAC Customer Service closed
its Wichita call center this
summer and is expanding its
centers in the Philippines.
Companies have also tried
to move customer contact to
Web sites or the Internet,
with mixed success.
In both cases, Butler said,
companies must decide how valuable
their customers are when deciding
whether to force them to communicate
only by e-mail or talk to somebody
in India.
"What stays in the States
are ones where market share
is important, or higher-value
products and services that
would be lost if someone didn't
want to talk to somebody whose
English wasn't perfect," Butler
said.
The Golf Warehouse has about
30 people in its call center
in Wichita. Customers order
products through the company's
Web site. But if they have
a question or complaint, they
get a human being.
"We are selling high-end
products to upper-income individuals
and customer service is very
important to our business," said
chief financial officer Marie
Daley.
"If
they order $600 golf clubs
and they're not happy
with them, they get frustrated
if all they can do is send
an e-mail. They want it addressed
right way, they want to talk
to a person."
For
more information about NACC
memberships, please visit the
NACC Web site at ww.nationalcallcenters.org.
About the National Association
of Call Centers
NACC is a membership-based,
non-profit organization established
to provide research-based data,
information and analysis to
the call center industry. Additional
information is available at
the NACC Web site: www.nationalcallcenters.org.
