StarTek Closing Canadian Call Center, Opening One in Texas

BPO firm and call center operator StarTek, Inc. (NYSE: SRT) Tuesday announced plans to open a new center in Victoria, Texas, and to close its facility in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada. The majority of the contact center agents located in Hawkesbury will be offered the opportunity to apply for positions at StarTek’s Cornwall, Ontario, facility.

The plan for the new facility in Victoria is to use a unique quadrant design that would allow this center the infrastructure and capacity to quickly scale to support programs for multiple small clients separated by partitions, or larger clients that need to utilize the facility’s entire 600 seat capacity. Located approximately two hours from Austin, StarTek’s Victoria contact center is expected to bring new potential jobs to the region and the number of Texas centers for StarTek to two. StarTek’s other contact center is located in Big Spring, Texas.

According to Larry Jones, StarTek’s chief executive officer, the Victoria, Texas, facility is expected to employ a new cutting-edge design in contact center construction with a quadrant layout, flexible furniture system and a new centralized VoIP communications architecture. "We believe this new design will help StarTek scale more quickly to accommodate our growth plans," said Jones.

StarTek will be closing its Hawkesbury facility by August 30 and offering the majority of the contact center agents located in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada, the opportunity to apply for positions at its Cornwall, Ontario, facility. The Hawkesbury center is closing largely because of an insufficient labor pool to meet client demand in and around the Hawkesbury area. Since opening 15 months ago, the Hawkesbury center served two lines of business for a large telecommunications client. StarTek continues to serve multiple communication clients in five other centers throughout Ontario.

"This is unfortunate news for both StarTek and the Hawkesbury community," said Jones. "However we are excited that stronger client demand in Cornwall will open opportunities for our Hawkesbury employees. As StarTek continues to grow we need to ensure all of our centers are operating profitability and efficiently. After careful consideration, we decided to close this facility."

Both of these announcements are in line with the new strategy announced by StarTek in the first quarter. Jones said, "Our current focus is on restoring profitability and positioning the company for growth. The closure of the Hawkesbury center and the opening of a new center in Victoria are both in line with those objectives."

StarTek provides BPO and call center services to the communications industry including customer care, sales support, complex order processing, accounts receivable management, technical support and other industry-specific processes.