Orcon repatriates 60 call centre jobs
Internet provider Orcon will close its contact centre in Manila and bring the work back to New Zealand, creating 60 jobs on Auckland’s North Shore.
Orcon is part of Australianowned company Vocus New Zealand, which also includes Slingshot and Callplus.
Orcon general manager Taryn Hamilton said Vocus NZ had decided to repatriate Orcon’s call centre about a year ago, before its Australian owner decided to put Vocus NZ up for sale.
Hamilton said all the staff needed for the Orcon contact centre had been recruited, with the facility due to open on December 4, though it was always on the lookout for additional recruits.
Most of the 60 staff will handle tech support calls via phone, while a smaller number will field account inquiries – which will now be managed by email.
‘‘We know for a fact that our customers are happier when dealing with an Nz-based team, so we’ve made it happen and we’re bringing the call centre back,’’ Hamilton said.
The new approach to handling account inquiries would mean ‘‘less hassle waiting around on the phone for non-urgent questions, and swift response times due to better-managed spikes in calls with emails spread more evenly’’, he said.
Vocus NZ chief executive Mark Callander first indicated in 2014 that Orcon might repatriate its contact centre, reversing an outsourcing decision made in 2012 when it was under the ownership of state-owned enterprise Kordia.
Vodafone closed its call centre in Cairo in 2011, repatriating 125 jobs to New Zealand. Its call centre staff are now based in the Philippines and in New Zealand.
Spark also manages customer support from contact centres in both countries.
Sixteen companies are understood to have expressed an interest in buying Vocus NZ.
Both Spark and Vodafone have hinted they may be in the running, without confirming that.