23 January 2014 (04:47 UTC-07 Tango)/21 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1435/03 Bahman 1392/23 Gui-Chou (12th month) 4711

“Awesome products extremely bad job. Management sucks and the people your trying to help take things overboard crying about there gaming systems. It’s almost a pointless job.”–Customer Support Technician (Former Employee), Idaho Falls – January 20, 2014

“I wouldn’t recommend anyone working for this corporation.”-Inbound Sales Associate (Former Employee), Fort Collins, CO – January 2, 2014

Local east Idaho news reporting that Center Partners’ call center in Idaho Falls has told employees they will be losing their jobs.

Unnamed employees immediately called local news sources after they were ordered by Center Partners not to talk to the news media.  The layoffs begin now and run through to the end of March, because word is the place is shutting down by 31 March.  Apparently the company is consolidating operations.

Center Partners refuses to respond to local news media inquiries. But you can find plenty of bad comments from former employees on the internet.

“….I joked with a coworker during training saying, 'I like it here to an extent, but it seems that it's just a bunch of uneducated Idahoans vying for the few semi-decent paying jobs that are here.' We laughed of course, but I didn't realize how true it was until after I finished training.
I also think this is where the unprofessionalism and nepotism come into play. Perhaps if some of the supervisors or managers had experience with other work environments the site would have a more professional tone. But it doesn't. And I think it's particularly unprofessional and UNETHICAL to have a married couple be management level employees, both employed at the same site, and working in the same project.“–SCEA Tier One Agent (Former Employee) Idaho Falls, ID

The Colorado based company touts itself as being a top contracted call center operator, first going into business in 1997.  It has operations in Colorado, Idaho and Washington.

There is little info about the company out there.  The company contracts with major corporations to handle calls from their customers.  Center Partners say they specialize in the following “customer touchpoints”:  Inbound/Outbound calling, Chat, Email, Social and @Home.

“I have worked at multiple call centers in different cities, and I have NEVER encountered a call floor as loud as theirs in Idaho Falls. It’s not the agents that are loud, it’s the trainers and the managers and the helpers who REFUSE TO BE QUIET while they are on the floor. It’s the Trainers and their buddies who carry on full-blown non-work-related conversations (gossip) behind the agents who are trying to deal with (for the most part) upset consumers. The agents need back-up who understand the need for a quiet work area. Consumers who call in deserve to have the full attention of the agent they are speaking with, not one who is constantly distracted by the people that wander the floor.”-CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT (Former Employee), Idaho Falls, ID – December 5, 2013

“I worked for this company for over 2 years….Management…were extremely egotistical, and socialized only with each other…..Benefits are overpriced and a joke….Some employees and management were clearly inebriated at work, and some were known convicted felons…….”-Sales Representative (Former Employee), Liberty Lake, Washington – December 3, 2013

Basically most Center Partners employees report, on internet employer rating sites, the same news that you hear from employees of other call centers; overall it’s a lousy job.

In 2013, Center Partners began laying off and shutting down it’s few call centers, or so it said.  In July 2013 the company announced it would layoff 578 employees in Washington, and 600 employees in Colorado.  Company officials blamed “changing business needs”.

At that point they were not sure what they would do with their Idaho operations.

In August 2013, it was revealed that Center Partners lost their contract with Capital One.  That contract apparently covered the pay for 42% of the company’s employees.

Then, suddenly in October 2013 Center Partners said not only were they not shutting down their Washington operation, but they would hire almost the same amount of staff they were going to fire!  Company officials credited “internal restructuring”.  It turns out that many employees had left the Washington office anyway!  The company also admitted they were still cutting management jobs.

Also in October 2013, Center Partners reported that thanks to “…efforts to reposition people internally…” they were actually going to add 400 jobs in Colorado, instead of layoff 600.  That’s a clear sign of inefficiency and incompetence when on one hand you say you have to kill 600 jobs, then magically on the other hand with some simply repositioning of employees you can suddenly add 400 jobs?  Oh but wait, it turns out that many employees in Colorado had already left as well.

It’s interesting that employees quit simply because they heard they were going to be laid off.  A local Spokane, Washington-Coeur d’Alene, Idaho TV station did interview management for the call center there and they confirmed that many employees quit just because they heard there would be layoffs.  So what this means is the company didn’t really create any new jobs they’re just replacing the people that quit.

The company also says they got new contracts, but didn’t specify.

It sounds like what’s happening is Center Partners is using the threat of impending layoffs to scare some unwanted employees away.  It’s an old trick, if you have a number of employees who’ve been with you long enough to pester you for a raise and benefits or a promotion, you lay them off for whatever reason.  And under Idaho’s Right to Work you over laws an employer is not required to give a reason for laying you off.  And by the way, In Idaho if an employer times their layoffs just right then they can get out of paying unemployment assistance!  They just need to make sure the employees never worked over a certain amount of hours, or never went over a certain amount of pay under Idaho Department Of Labor’s “reporting period”, and the laid off employees don’t get any unemployment assistance!  I know, it’s happened to me.