A Greensboro call service center is permanently closing and laying off 685 people.
NCO Customer Management has notified the N.C. Commerce Department that that layoffs will begin after May 7 and take place in stages until the facility shuts down on Aug. 31.
The company said it's closing because of "client mandated business decisions and requirements," but did not identify which clients are no longer using NCO's call center. A call to the company was not immediately returned.
In the looming layoff, by far the greatest category of employees affected will be customer service reps, of whom 514 will lose their jobs. After that the layoffs will eliminate 58 technical service reps, 47 team leads and 24 customer service supervisors.
Also affected will be time analysts, trainers, recruiters, quality reps, among others.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), hydralic fracturing (or "fracking"), public utilities (both electric and natural gas) and health care. His beat includes Progress Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Biogen Idec and others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or