Sitel Group to lay off 71 in Painted Post

PAINTED POST, N.Y. — Sitel Group is laying off 71 employees in Painted Post.

The business-processing outsourcing company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice with the state on Tuesday, according to the New York Department of Labor.

The notice said 71 workers will be affected. It gave as a reason for the job losses: “Departure of client campaign.”

“Due to an unplanned customer departure, Sitel Group has made the difficult decision to permanently end employment on May 6th, 2018 for some of our associates at this location,” company spokesperson Becky Davis tells BJNN in an email.

“We are encouraging all associates to apply for other positions within the company, such as our Work@Home opportunities. This has been a very difficult decision due to the tremendous support we have received and relationships we have built within the community,” she adds.

Daniel Porter, executive director of Chemung-Schuyler-Steuben Workforce New York, says Sitel’s work is contract based and variable. “It goes up and down,” he says.

Porter says his organization had received the WARN notice and was preparing to work with other job and economic-development organizations to assist workers. “We will help out as best we can,” he says.

Sitel Group is a global company with more than 150 offices in 70 countries using 48 languages, according to its website. In addition to business-process outsourcing, firm offers digital marketing, training and talent development, and consulting and analytics. The site says the company has “75,000 associates.”

Contact McChesney at cmcchesney@cnybj.com