Smartpo 2007-9-13 15:39
50 in-home workers wanted
50 in-home workers wanted
Dave Hall, Windsor Star
Published: Thursday, September 06, 2007
A London, Ont.-based call centre with 400 employees is seeking as many as 50 bilingual English/French employees in the Windsor area who are willing to work from home.
Established in 1994, Alliance iCommunications services both inbound and outbound contracts for a variety of North American clients and is looking to expand its roster of home-based employees.
"We just started offering home-based work for a small group of our employees and we're taking baby steps," company co-owner Sheila LeClair said. "But we're also actively looking to increase the number of employees working at home and Windsor appears to be an ideal place to start.
"We're aware there's a solid bilingual population in the city and a good educational system which will provide us with the level of skills we're looking for," said LeClair. "In addition, the southwestern Ontario accent is neutral and people in the area have a solid working knowledge of both U.S. and Ontario markets.
President Dave LeClair said his company's technology is on the leading edge of call centres.
"It's just as easy to route calls for employees working at home as it is to set up agents in one of our two facilities in London," he said.
While it's a new trend in Canada, there are already more than 100,000 home based agents working in the U.S. and the number is expected to triple within three years.
In addition to working flexible hours, home-based agents save money on gas, meals, parking costs and child-care expenses.
Call centres have come under some criticism locally, with some workers at one centre complaining about conditions. Sheila LeClair said she was aware of the complaints but added that "our business is not as large as theirs and we have no aspirations to have 1,000 workers in one place.
"We have worked hard to grow our business and we believe in our corporate culture that nobody's a number," said LeClair. "We are very selective in who we hire and we believe we hire the best."
Matthew Fischer, CEO of the Windsor-Essex Development Commission, has worked on projects with Alliance in the past. "They've worked hard to overcome the notion that all call centres are high-pressure sales organizations," he said. "This company is legitimate and of a high quality."
Keith Herring, Aliance's senior manager, said wage rates would start at $13 an hour plus incentives, with a competitive benefits package with regular raises based on seniority.
"We're hoping to hire 20 people almost immediately and if we can, we would be up and running within two to three weeks," said Herring.
Herring said eventually the company hopes to establish a training centre in Windsor which would train employees working in a number of cities across the region. Training typically lasts for seven days.
It's expected that the first 40 employees hired will be trained to handle inbound calls for a client dealing with roadside assistance issues.
A second group would be hired later to make outbound sales calls on behalf of a North American retailer.
LeClair said she was unable to provide names of clients because of client confidentially issues.
Hiring information can be accessed at [url]www.allianceicomm.com.[/url]
[email]dhall@thestar.canwest.com[/email]
or 519-255-5777, ext. 408.
