StarTek Inc. will close its call center in Jonesboro for the second time in two years, eliminating 125 jobs, so it can consolidate operations into a new, larger operation in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Rosemary Hanratty, StarTek’s marketing director, said Wednesday that the Colorado-based company will begin winding down its Arkansas operation by April before closing its doors permanently on May 12.
Hanratty said the decision to close the Jonesboro center was based on corporate needs and not a reflection of the quality of work being done in Arkansas.
“There’s no fault in the Jonesboro crew,” Hanratty said. The company told employees about the decision on Tuesday.
Jay Kirksey, StarTek’s senior vice president of human resources, said in a statement that Jonesboro has performed well for the company and called the move a “strategic business decision.”
In December, the company said it would open an $8 million, 50,000-square-foot customer-service center in Myrtle Beach that could employ as many as 600 people, according to The Sun News of Myrtle Beach.
Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin said he was notified Tuesday by the company that it is closing the call center.
Perrin said he was told that some of the people who work there have been offered jobs in Myrtle Beach, but was unaware the company is planning to open a new call center in another state before Tuesday’s announcement.
“Actually, it’s just a bump,” Perrin said about StarTek’s decision. “Last year, Jonesboro was ranked 11th in the nation on job growth, about 3.69 percent. But anytime you have lost jobs for anybody in your town, obviously you don’t want that to happen.”
He said the city will work with the state and Jonesboro Chamber of Commerce to help the displaced workers find new jobs.
Perrin said the city and chamber have begun helping the building owner find a new tenant before the call center closes.
Workers at the Jonesboro center provide customer service for a variety of clients, including the telephone, cable and satellite industries. Hanratty said the company never publicly discloses the names of its clients. The company website said it has call centers in 10 states, including the one in Arkansas, as well as in Honduras, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Ontario, Canada. The company said it employs 10,200 people at its various sites.
The closing in May won’t be the first time StarTek shuttered its Jonesboro operation, which it opened in 2008.
In 2012, the company closed the center, laying off 223 employees at the time. A few months later, the company announced it would reopen the center and expected to hire as many as 250 workers.
Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said in an email that the company didn’t use state incentive programs when it reopened the Jonesboro center in 2012.
StarTek is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares rose 21 cents Wednesday to close at $6.64. In the past year, its shares have traded between $4.14 and $7.24.
Business, Pages 25 on 02/13/2014