900 jobs affected as Dell closes Edmonton call centre

Dell Inc. announced Thursday that it is closing its Edmonton call centre, a move that will affect more than 900 employees.

It's the second time in a week that computer company has announced cuts to operations in Canada. On Tuesday, Dell called off plans to create 1,200 new jobs in Ottawa and instead announced dozens of layoffs at a call centre in that city.

It also comes less than three years after the city lured the call centre with economic concessions.

Employees at the Edmonton call centre were told Thursday that all operations will shut down by May, said Dell employee Ken Smuda, who has only been with the company for five months.

"It's unfortunate," he said. "I was looking forward to a nice long career with this company and now here I am one of the people who is back on the streets looking again."

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel said company officials informed the city about the decision Thursday morning.

"We knew it was coming but we didn't think it was to the degree it was," Mandel said.

He said he was told Dell is shutting down, in part, because it's having trouble attracting and keeping staff in Edmonton's tight labour market.

"Their turnover was so high they couldn't keep people trained well enough to keep the level of service up," Mandel said.

The city lured the call centre to the city in 2005 with a 20-year agreement to waive property taxes on the company's southside call centre, concessions worth $1.1 million for the first five years.

The city may be able to recoup some of that money, said Kenn Bur, director of communications for Economic Development Edmonton.

"There a number of scenarios and we have referred that to our legal counsel," he said.

Headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, Dell is in the middle of consolidating its global operations and cutting its costs. The company's stated goal is to cut about 10 per cent of its workforce.