Dude, if you’re gonna run a HSBC watch website, I suggest you get some decent insider sources. Because clearly, you don’t have jack except public news from Google.
Last Thursday (10 April 2009), HSBC Credit Card services shut down customer care operations in three East Coast call centers: Chesapeake (VA), New Castle (DE) and Tulsa (OK). New Castle and Tulsa are peripheral centers without significant staff. But Chesapeake is enormous and considered a keystone site. Total number of pink slips dished out: approximately 400 (and that’s a conservative estimate as no official tally was given). The only customer care operations still in existence at those three sites are the floor supervisors (known internally as Assist Queue) and Internet Technical Support.
All collections operations are unaffected. In fact, the collections business is growing, with new hires rolling in.
All laid off employees got at least a 30 day severance and a few months of COBRA. None of them were given an option to transfer to other sites and departments. If these ex-employees still want a position at HSBC, they must apply as an external candidate.
The manner in which they announced the layoffs at these sites was particularly brutal and abrupt. They suddenly stopped incoming calls at around noon (local time) and asked affected employees to assemble at a public area. They were then told effective immediately they no longer have jobs and asked to leave the building. Extra security was hired in case emotions got out of hand.
In the past, HSBC would hint of layoffs to give employees time to prepare. For example, they hinted frequently on Connect (HSBC’s internal web portal for employees) that the Auto Finance business in San Diego would wind down weeks before it became official. Last Thursday’s recent layoff came as a shock for virtually everybody. It must have been a last minute decision since no attempts were made to retain good employees or transfer them elsewhere.
HSBC has four large customer care sites left: Tigard (OR), Las Vegas (NV), Sioux Falls (SD) and Manila. It has smaller sites in Vizag (India), Woodale (IL) and Salinas (CA). Customer Care operations at remaining domestic sites should expect 5-15% layoffs in the near future but deeper cuts and closures are unlikely since HSBC is dedicated to its credit card business in the U.S., which remains wildly profitable. These cuts will be made to rid the company of poor performers, not as a cost-cutting measure.
Curiously, the manner in which management revealed the layoffs to their employees at surviving sites seem suspicious. They normally would ask Unit Managers to hold a 5 minute team huddle with their agents to inform, talk and reassure. Didn’t happen this time. They just pretended it didn’t happen. Many employees didn’t know about the massacre until a message appeared on Connect. You can imagine how much anxiety employees must feel to hear of a mass layoff from an impersonal website posting. I dont think this is due to management incompetence. Rather, I think it is because there is little coordination and much confusion amongst senior management. In this state of confusion, it is natural for people not to respond (and hope someone else does).
If you make it worthwhile for me, I can feed tons of insider information, including ways to get fee waivers, lower APRs and management insights on business direction. I know stuff you can only dream of.
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