Sitel hiring more than 200 people

A St. Catharines call centre says it plans to hire more than 200 employees immediately.

Sitel Group said the jobs include fulltime and temporary positions, and all employees will be able to work from home.

To apply go to Jobs.Sitel.com and enter the keyword St. Catharines.

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Sitel has transitioned 95 per cent of its Garden City staff to work from home, said site director Gemma Dale.

“Our priority is always the safety and well-being of our associates,” she said in a media release.

Dale said “with our wide-open space and large training rooms we’re accommodating small-group training sessions while respecting social distancing guidelines.”

“After that, associates will be 100 per cent home-based.”

The Sitel Group has about 80,000 employees worldwide providing remote tech support, customer service, sales and other business processes.

The hiring news comes as many businesses deal with declining revenues, temporary closures or layoffs due to public health restrictions put in place over the coronavirus.

Some of the industries among the hardest hit — accommodation and food services, retail, arts and entertainment, and cultural services — account for about 32 per cent of all jobs in this region, according to Niagara Workforce Planning Board, which provides research, analysis and data on the local labour market.

“Whatever impact this has, we’re going to feel it in a more proportionately stronger way in Niagara than what is going to be felt in Ontario” where they make up only 22 per cent of jobs, said operations and research manager Adam Durrant.

Job interviews for the new Sitel positions may be conducted by video conference.

“We’re looking for service-oriented and customer-centric talent who want to provide home customer support from the safety and comfort of their own home,” Dale said.

The release noted the jobs “offer a number of benefits with a brief, paid on-site training in our facility” under safe social distancing conditions.