Jobs losses.
written by taxpayer , July 15, 2008 (09:53:50 AM)

This closure is very unfortunate for those employed at Synovate and for the region as well; however I wonder what happened to the proposed new Rona and the Safeway stores that were to be located next to Superstore on Hwy 16. There were many job opportunities lost there. I now see a for sale sign on that property. I think that our mayor and council should be paying a lot more attention to local matters rather than chasing down new business in China and coming up empty for the 11th time.

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written by tatliz , July 15, 2008 (10:23:11 AM)

This is just another example of these companies expanding elsewhere, instead of locally where they should be. We are losing more and more jobs to the Outsourcing market of cheap labor. It's a shame that we cannot stay local and employ our own people.

I, myself, work in a call center based job, and I am proud to say we are completely Canadian owned and operated. People tell me all the time how nice it is to speak to someone from Canada, not to mention speak to someone who speaks proper english or french!!!

Prince George needs to get with the times and update the city. There needs to be new people with new ideas to shape up the community and build and grow. Especially with the strong Canadian dollar, PG needs to draw people in, not scare them away!

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written by taxpayer , July 15, 2008 (11:40:38 AM)

Any business that is willing to open its doors or keep them open in a place such as Prince George will be more inclined to so if they find the place inviting....We still have winter gravel on the roads and streets that are in bad need of repair, not to mention weeds up to your ass on most city owned land next to the badly worn sidewalks and curbs. Pretty sad for a city with a 42 million dollar payroll!!!

No Surprise
written by ccurle01 , July 15, 2008 (01:30:29 PM)

I worked at that call centre for three years and this comes to no surprise to me. They fired all of their really good employees for no reason and kept the ones that did not care about the job. The turn over rate there was/is so high that a lot of Prince George has already worked there. The management was the pits, it was so bad that the facility manager has just left to work with another company.

There will be not expanding elsewhere for this company, in my three years working there they closed down four other facilities because 1) their lease was up 2) no one was treated right and they just did not want to work there anymore. The employees who have worked there for a prolonged period of time knew this was coming because the lease is up in January. On top of that the company has not had the proper amount of employees to run their projects for at least 2 years. All I have to say is about time.

No surprise?
written by what , July 15, 2008 (10:36:21 PM)

I will not comment on the business decisions made by Synovate corporate out of respect for the individuals that made the decision to terminate the facility as gracefully as they have. If you do not know the specifics of this situation you should not be commenting upon them.

I will however comment on the postings made here.

Of the people who are or were terminated few were good employees and in every case solid reasons for dismissal were present, as is the case at most any business, especially one large enough to have an on-site HR department that oversees dismissals. The employees who remain are for the most part the ones who did in fact care about their job enough to perform their duties in a satisfactory manner. You also do not know the reason behind the facility manager's departure and we all know what happens when one assumes.

The very large number of employees that are saddened by this news may disagree with your assumptions about unfair and improper treatment as well. While staffing levels, turnover rates and management policies are not subjects for public discussion I believe the final comment made above is.

About time?

For a bitter ex-employee perhaps.

For those with rent to pay and mouths to feed it is not. Fortunately the company is taking the responsible steps outlined in the news post above.

Nice corporate plant, "what"
written by tombstone81 , July 15, 2008 (10:53:26 PM)

Being responsible is moving to cheaper, outsourced labour and trying to clean your conscience by telling a guy how to write a resume? Have a good sleep, friend...but then, your kind always does!

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written by ccurle01 , July 16, 2008 (03:27:03 PM)

From past expereience working at that company it is a proven fact that Managers would take not stand behind the supervisors or assistant supervisors for disiplinary issues and than in turn disipline the surpervisors for taking the steps they were told to make. And I am not a bitter employee because I have gone further than that place would ever take me.

So maybe "what" you should not presume that I am a "bitter ex-employee" for I am happier than I ever could be, especially not being under your management anymore (I can tell by your writing techniques), not that it was good management at that. Good ridines to you and I hope to NOT see you around.