Dell's retreat from Canada continued today as they announced plans to close their Ottawa call centre later this summer. Less than 18 months after pledging to double its presence by building a new three-story complex near its original Ottawa call centre, Dell has decimated its work force in the region.
More than 1,100 employees will be affected. Almost 500 were immediately let go after the announcement was made this morning. Although staff reductions were announced in January, just how many employees the computer maker planned to lay off was unknown until today.
In January, Dell announced it was scrapping a planned expansion of its Ottawa operations, forgoing the hiring of 500 new employees and leaving their new facility in Kanata vacant. The following day, Dell announced it would also shut down its Edmonton call centre putting 900 employees out of work.
The combined layoffs will reduce the company's Canadian contingent by two-thirds, leaving 800 employees at Dell Canada's headquarters in Toronto, 100 in Ottawa and another 100 sales managers scattered across the country.
Rob Lewis
Rob is the President of Techvibes Media Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Techvibes.com.
His diverse background includes stints in International Trade Finance, Web Development, and Enterprise Software and he is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Simon Fraser University.
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