Bayer Opens Call Center in Pittsburgh

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

The call center market continues to be a growing and dynamic market. Because it is constantly changing, companies consistently change their approach to this part of the organization in effort to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and improve customer service and many other goals.

 

A result of these efforts is often moving call center operations overseas. However, it can often mean the establishment of a new center here in the states, either through an outsourced contract or an expansion of in-house operations. When such news is released, it is always a positive for the domestic call center market.

 

The Pittsburgh job market is set to get a little better this week as Bayer Corp. has opened a new employee call center in the city. Officially opening for business last Friday, the company has created 60 new jobs for the city.

 

Bayer, based in Pittsburgh and a subsidiary of AG of Leverkusen, Germany, reported that the new center will service its estimated 15,000 employees in the United States. This move not only improves the job market for Pittsburgh, it also helps to solidify the validity of establishing call centers on U.S. soil. 

 

Incentives were provided to Bayer by Pennsylvania and Allegheny County in order to establish the call center at its Pittsburgh campus. The incentive package was reported to be worth at least $390,000 for a human resources call center at the company’s U.S. headquarters campus in Robinson.

 

The incentive package includes $240,000 in job creation tax credits and $50,000 in job training assistance from the states Department of Community and Economic Development. Also included in the package is a $100,000 grant from the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development to help in covering the company’s construction costs. Such incentives proved valuable to Bayer, which had sales in 2006 of $38.5 billion.

 

The company has established the new centralized human resources center, which will be called Bayer HR/Direct, in hopes of reducing costs while also increasing efficiencies in its Human Resources department. First day of operation of the company’s new call center is planned for today, April 2.

 

Organizations stand to gain significant benefit by keeping their call centers in the U.S. Aside from the efficient streamlining of operations that can be achieved by establishing the call center on their own campus, Bayer can also leverage existing recruiting and hiring techniques, draw from a known talent pool and provide current employees with the security of a local facility. The company can achieve better morale throughout the organization; driving employee satisfaction that will ultimately improve customer service and reduce costs overall.