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Call center giant Convergys Corp. is shutting down its 4-year- old operation at Fort Pierce's Orange Blossom Business Center.
The Cincinnati-based telemarketing and customer-service company will close the 56,000-square-foot call center May 16, laying off 200 employees. The move aims to streamline operations and cut costs, company officials said.
"The cost to operate the facility has been reviewed . . . and the decision was made to stop operations," company spokeswoman Lauri Roderick said Monday.
St. Lucie County officials said Convergys, which handles technical support and other calls for large companies, had lost some contracts in recent months. The call center, which has had nearly 1,000 workers at times, had dropped its staff to 200.
"It's a very competitive business. It's a lot more volatile than other industries," said Don Root, executive director for the St. Lucie County Economic Development Council. "We hate losing Convergys, but I understand that you don't lease 50,000 square feet for 200 people."
Employment at Convergys, like many large call centers, fluctuated as the company gained or lost contracts.
Convergys officials told county leaders in February that the company was planning cutbacks at the Fort Pierce center because it had lost two contracts, said Larry Daum, the county's economic development manager. But the company was bidding on new work and hoped to rebound, he said.
"It's kind of a rotating ballgame," Daum said. "We're sorry to see them leave. . . . We're in the business of retaining businesses. We fight so hard to get new stuff to come. But I'm not sure there was anything that we could have done."
Roderick said no one at the Fort Pierce center was available for comment.
Convergys (NYSE: CVG, $14.94) opened the Fort Pierce site at the former shopping mall on Okeechobee Road in September 2000 and spent $3.5 million to transform the old Belk's department store into a call center. The center has handled calls for various clients, including computer companies, Internet providers and credit card firms.
Convergys has about 6,000 employees in Florida, with call centers in Tamarac, Jacksonville and Tallahassee, a data center and call center in Orlando and a billing office in Sunrise. The company has 65 centers around the world.
The company is offering assistance to help the Fort Pierce employees find other jobs, either at other Convergys facilities or elsewhere here.
St. Lucie County is home to several call centers, including QVC, Aegis Communications and Liberty Medical Supply. Most are hiring, so the displaced workers should not have trouble finding other jobs, Daum said.
"There are more jobs available in this community than we have bodies to fill," he said. "I think they'll be absorbed."
And Root said he is talking with other call centers about taking Convergys' space.
"In that industry, they're always looking for a center that's already prepared," Root said. "I want to be kind of particular about what kind of call center. . . . I'd like to see an insurance or financial call center."
