本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Call centres work harder to attract new employees
Possible shortage of workers expected to draw more people to Metro Moncton
(FILE PHOTO)
Customer contact centres have become an important part of the Metro Moncton economy.
ROD ALLEN
Times & Transcript Staff
Contact centres are still growing in the metropolitan Moncton area, but with the local unemployment rate dropping to a minuscule 3.5 per cent the industry has to work harder to attract new blood, says Enterprise Greater Moncton.
The provincial government and Dennis Melanson, EGM's labour force development officer, organized a meeting of the local industry this week and said most of the area's 35 call centres sent representatives.
Interest in recruitment issues is a big item for the New Brunswick Customer Contact Centre Association, said Melanson in an interview yesterday.
The industry isn't facing a worker shortage yet and most New Brunswickers are familiar with the work of 'call centres,' but more public awareness about the opportunities they offer was the main focus of this first in what will likely be a quarterly series of meetings from here on, said Melanson.
"It's such a large and important industry here and all over the province that we feel we should work on the ongoing health of these companies to make sure we can find them good, qualified workers and to help those workers stick around for the long term."
The industry continues to grow all over the province but particularly in the three major cities.
"We've been averaging at least one major centre a year by that I mean 300 to 500 employees - since the mid-1990s in the Moncton area alone," said Melanson. Overall population issues aren't pressing in the metro area because there is growth here, but most of the people are coming from elsewhere in New Brunswick.
Provincewide there is either very little population growth or possibly even a decline this year, so there was a focus at the meeting on how to attract newcomers.
"Repatriation of people who have left the province is definitely a big initiative, along with attracting brand new citizens through immigration," said Melanson, "but the main thing is to let the public know this continues to be a great industry with increasingly good opportunities.
"Wages are growing steadily, many companies pay the full shot for medical and dental benefits, many also offer a company RSP plan and some are offering a pension plan as well.
"Besides that, contact centres offer upward growth into management, where the opportunities are practically limitless."
Some facts about New Brunswick's contact centre industry:
Metropolitan Moncton is New Brunswick's contact centre leader with 35 centres, representing 6,800 direct jobs.
Another 3,000 Monctonians are indirectly employed by the industry.
New Brunswick has more than 80 centres, directly employing 13,000 people and indirectly, 9,000 more.
Pay for contact centre workers generally ranges from $9 to $15 an hour.
Management jobs with contact centres start at around $35,000 and can exceed $70,000.
Sources: New Brunswick Customer Contact Association and Enterprise Greater Moncton).更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Possible shortage of workers expected to draw more people to Metro Moncton
(FILE PHOTO)
Customer contact centres have become an important part of the Metro Moncton economy.
ROD ALLEN
Times & Transcript Staff
Contact centres are still growing in the metropolitan Moncton area, but with the local unemployment rate dropping to a minuscule 3.5 per cent the industry has to work harder to attract new blood, says Enterprise Greater Moncton.
The provincial government and Dennis Melanson, EGM's labour force development officer, organized a meeting of the local industry this week and said most of the area's 35 call centres sent representatives.
Interest in recruitment issues is a big item for the New Brunswick Customer Contact Centre Association, said Melanson in an interview yesterday.
The industry isn't facing a worker shortage yet and most New Brunswickers are familiar with the work of 'call centres,' but more public awareness about the opportunities they offer was the main focus of this first in what will likely be a quarterly series of meetings from here on, said Melanson.
"It's such a large and important industry here and all over the province that we feel we should work on the ongoing health of these companies to make sure we can find them good, qualified workers and to help those workers stick around for the long term."
The industry continues to grow all over the province but particularly in the three major cities.
"We've been averaging at least one major centre a year by that I mean 300 to 500 employees - since the mid-1990s in the Moncton area alone," said Melanson. Overall population issues aren't pressing in the metro area because there is growth here, but most of the people are coming from elsewhere in New Brunswick.
Provincewide there is either very little population growth or possibly even a decline this year, so there was a focus at the meeting on how to attract newcomers.
"Repatriation of people who have left the province is definitely a big initiative, along with attracting brand new citizens through immigration," said Melanson, "but the main thing is to let the public know this continues to be a great industry with increasingly good opportunities.
"Wages are growing steadily, many companies pay the full shot for medical and dental benefits, many also offer a company RSP plan and some are offering a pension plan as well.
"Besides that, contact centres offer upward growth into management, where the opportunities are practically limitless."
Some facts about New Brunswick's contact centre industry:
Metropolitan Moncton is New Brunswick's contact centre leader with 35 centres, representing 6,800 direct jobs.
Another 3,000 Monctonians are indirectly employed by the industry.
New Brunswick has more than 80 centres, directly employing 13,000 people and indirectly, 9,000 more.
Pay for contact centre workers generally ranges from $9 to $15 an hour.
Management jobs with contact centres start at around $35,000 and can exceed $70,000.
Sources: New Brunswick Customer Contact Association and Enterprise Greater Moncton).更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net