KS&R to cut 60 jobs at downtown Syracuse call center

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Knowledge Systems & Research, Inc. (KS&R), a global market-research firm, will eliminate 60 of the 90 jobs at its call center in downtown Syracuse this spring.

The job cuts at the call center, located at 224 Harrison St., are set to occur on April 15, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN Notice) the company filed with the New York State Department of Labor. The state posted it online on Tuesday.

KS&R told the state the layoffs were due to a “decline in phone market research.”

All of the employees losing their jobs work in the call center’s evening shift, which KS&R is eliminating “due to the decline in, lack of contracts that involve consumer (household) telephone interviewing,” Lynne Van Dyke, a principal with the company, tells BJNN. She adds that 55 of the 60 positions are part-time jobs.

Technological trends have hit the market research and polling industry hard. Many consumers have replaced their landlines with cell phones and refuse to answer calls in which they don’t recognize the number on the screen. That is making it more difficult and costly to get good, representative samples through traditional telephone survey work and has pushed many firms toward online surveys.

KS&R will continue operating a daytime shift at its call center to survey businesses, as they mostly continue to use landline phones.

 The affected KS&R workers are not represented by a union, per the WARN notice.

Van Dyke says the company will assist the affected employees in finding other jobs.

KS&R is headquartered in the AXA Towers at 120 Madison St. in Syracuse. It also has offices in the New York City area, Memphis, Seattle, and Frankfurt, Germany.

The firm, founded in 1983, says on its website that it works with clients in many industries to “improve market position, increase returns on marketing investments, and to define and implement market entry strategies.”

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com