Verizon work-at-home transition may spur trend

Employees at ABQ call center will no longer need to head to office

On Wednesday, Verizon Wireless announced that its Albuquerque brick-and-mortar call center will be one of seven around the country to close. More than a thousand employees here will either work from home or transition to other Verizon facilities, according to a company spokeswoman, with no layoffs or conversions to contractors announced at this time.

New Mexico’s top economic development official said he would “not be surprised” to see at least a few other call centers in the state eventually follow Verizon’s example, although many would likely remain at their physical locations.

“Most of the call centers in our state are owned by big corporations, and big corporations tend to be forward-thinking,” said Matt Geisel, secretary of the state’s Economic Development Department. “It’s about offering your employees a certain lifestyle as a way to attract and retain talent.”

The decision also represents a cost-savings measure for Verizon, which will no longer lease its 197,000-square-foot office on Central Avenue and Coors Boulevard. The company invested $30 million in improvements there in 2006 before occupying the building. Verizon leases the building from Norman Coors LLC.

Geisel, a former Rio Rancho economic development official, said he expected there to be significant interest in the real estate. He said when a Sprint call center moved out of its Rio Rancho location in 2016, the city was “flooded” with inquiries from companies interested in relocating there. It was eventually occupied by Safelite AutoGlass.

A move toward home-based operations could mean a significant shift for one of the state’s most visible industries. As of 2016, the greater Albuquerque region had one of the highest call center saturations in the country among metropolitan areas of its size, according to the Dallasbased advisory firm Site Selection Group.

At that time, the area had at least 28 call centers — the industry’s preferred term is “contact center” — employing about 12,000 people. That’s roughly the same number as Presbyterian Healthcare Services, one of the state’s largest employers.

Between 2005 and 2008, Verizon received $5 million from the Job Training Incentive Program, according to the Economic Development Department. The company employs 1,040 people, and its payroll is about $25 million a year.

“A $5 million investment from the state for more than a thousand

jobs for 12 years is pretty impressive,” said Geisel.

Verizon was also the recipient of a $20 million industrial revenue bond measure from Bernalillo County in 2006 that was used to finance improvements to the building. IRBs function as a complex mechanism for providing tax breaks. According to Good Jobs First, a not-for-profit organization that tracks economic development incentives, the bonds created the equivalent of a $9.7 million property tax abatement over 30 years for Verizon.

County Commission Chair Steven Michael Quezada said in a statement that the county, along with its legal counsel, is “reviewing the lease agreement for the IRB issued in 2006 so we and Verizon will have a clear understanding of what commitments are remaining.”

A 2017 county fiscal report states that the county is permitted to recapture the abated taxes if the company “terminates” within 10 years. The 10-year period ended in 2016.

A Verizon spokeswoman said the company has “fulfilled its obligations” with the county and is not subject to clawbacks.

The company is expected to fully transition its employees by May 2019, and the building will close in October 2019.