GSE 08-24 eir Contact Centres
25/September/2024
Description
On the 28th August, eir announced a decision by its owners NJJ to outsource some elements of customer support to their NJJ site in Portugal.
The announcement was made just a day after the company reported very strong financial results, delivered in no small part by the dedication and hard work of members in the Contact Centres and companywide. The manner in which the announcement was made caused a great deal of concern.
The business decision is not supported by the CWU. We believe the decision is only driven by a demand for increased profits. It runs the risk of undermining the excellent customer services put in place to rescue the company’s image and standing from the wrath of unhappy customers, Comreg and the Oireachtas. This flawed decision has the potential to undermine this good work, could ultimately damage the eir brand and is an insult to the excellent work done by employees at eir.
On foot of the announcement, a meeting was secured with eir senior management, involving representatives from the four customer operations Branches, to ascertain the rationale and implications of this decision by NJJ for directly impacted members.
Notwithstanding the understandable concern and shock, positive engagement on a range of issues took place at the meeting. The immediate focus for the Union is for members directly affected by this and our demands centre around the following:
- Retention of the four sites in Ireland
- No compulsory redundancies or redeployment
- No changes to existing terms and conditions, including pay agreements
- No diminution of services to customers – we want to ensure that the high standard of customer service our members deliver day in and day out is not negatively impacted by this action
- Discussions on the transfer of up to 75 FTEs
Since eir took the decision to bring the customer services function back in-house, members in the centres and throughout the company have faced considerable challenges. It is a matter of great pride that each of these challenges have been met head on, delivering the success that the business is so rightly proud of.
Although customer service is key, members that contribute to the full package that delivers the high return on
investment are also concerned as to whether the company has plans for any further outsourcing.
In this regard, we have requested an early meeting with CEO, Oliver Loomes, to set out in no uncertain terms the very serious concerns raised by this decision.
The Executive has considered all options available to it at this time and it was agreed that the engagement with the company should continue. It was acknowledged that the response we receive will determine our next steps and we will keep you informed of the outcome of these discussions.