300 jobs set to go at Nottingham city centre call centre
STAFF at a call centre which is facing the axe said it felt "sickening" being told 300 jobs could be lost.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced yesterday that it was looking to close its call centre on Kent Street, in the city centre, after a deal to operate Tesco's insurance business ended.
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Subject to the outcome of a consultation, the call centre could shut in October or November.
Workers were given the news during a meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the city centre.
One employee, who has worked at the Kent Street site for a number of years, said: "Everyone was heckling, shouting and getting upset. Some people walked out because they could not handle it.
"A lot of staff have shares in the company. It's sickening.
"Sometimes there are two to three hundred calls a week lost because we can't answer them because of a lack of staff.
"The management say Tesco Insurance calls are the majority of our calls but they aren't. Prudential, Natwest, RBS, Direct Line and Churchill. They all generate more calls."
A spokesperson for RBS, which is 84 per cent owned by the taxpayer, said a number of staff may be given work elsewhere in the company.
In May RBS announced a package of more than 2,600 job cuts nationwide in a bid to become more efficient.
Darrell Evans, RBS managing director of sales, service and partnerships, said: "The expected reduction in call volumes from customers on Tesco insurance policies means we have had to review the most efficient allocation of our people, sites, and technology.
"We are in a period of consultation with all affected employees and their representatives to examine the available options, [including] a proposal to close the Nottingham site."
The job cuts come in the wake of a decision earlier this month by Lloyds Banking Group to look at cutting more than 220 jobs, by closing the HBoS insurance centre at the NG2 Business Park off Queen's Drive, Nottingham.
Graham Chapman, deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, said the RBS announcement was more evidence that banks were still trying to cut costs in the wake of the credit crunch.
He said: "This is extremely unfortunate and my main concern is to make sure that we do everything we can to help all the individuals who may be affected by this decision.
"I'm afraid we are having to take our share of the problems that have afflicted the banks over the past couple of years."
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by chris dale, nottingham
Friday, August 06 2010, 10:40AM
“i used to work in that call center last year and i got told in may last year that tesco could be pulling out but its a shock that its shutting down due to tesco,due to the fact i used to sell churchill and pru home insureance and it was always busy on them with me taking over 70 calls a day. shame really good call center, and sorry to hear about all the staff losing there jobs in the company.”
by Anthony O Wilkinson, Ruddington
Thursday, July 29 2010, 8:47AM
“What happens when everything is very cheap due to it being made or sourced overseas but nobody in Europe can afford it.”
by bash the banks, stapleford
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 9:52PM
“Mr Sensible....Where are you ??????”
by An RBS Employee (for now), again, Nottingham
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 9:42PM
“To my fellow RBS colleague below. The "proposal" will go ahead even if somebody does come up with a better idea.
The only thing that stops me agreeing with you about hoping that RBS goes under is the untold misery that could heap on the 10s of thousands of ordinary members of staff like us.
Let's try to look on the bright side - we're better off without them!!”
by Another RBS Employee (for now), Nottingham
Wednesday, July 28 2010, 9:30PM
“We are all major shareholders of RBS, Fanny. The Government owns around 85% of the company.
To set the record straight, our jobs aren't being outsourced to India. RBS has a contract with the companies it provides insurance with that it will only use UK call centres.
The calls that we take (of which only around 30% are actually Tesco calls, which is incidently the reason cited for our closure?!) will be allocated to our other sites around the UK.
The bottom line is, this whole situation is a total farce. Apparently there is only a "Proposal" to close our office down. However, there are no other alternatives being offered by RBS as of yet. So unless someone can come up with a better solution, the "proposal" will go ahead and our office will close.
They say they will offer us redeployment within the company, Thats great, if you want to move to Birmingham which is where all the current vacancies on our website are.
They cant give us a confirmed date of when the office will close if the proposal goes through, so we could be out of work as early as October or as late as December?!
Personally i hope that the company goes under. Its what it deserves for the appalling way it treats its customers and staff!!”