Local politicians hail growing BT contact centre in Dundee
Jenny Marra MSP and Councillor Ken Guild, leader of Dundee City Council, visited BT’s contact centre in Dundee on Friday to meet staff and hear about the company’s local operations and impact on the city’s economy.
With around 950 people working in its Ward Road contact centres, BT is a major local employer which is continuing to grow its city operations.
More than 130 new recruits have joined this year, including more than a dozen apprentices, with the company currently looking to fill another 90 posts. It has also continued to convert agency roles into permanent BT jobs.
Andrew Bailey, BT director of help and support and BT Scotland board member, said: “Our Dundee site is a real success story, providing stable employment opportunities for local people while increasing growth and sustainability in the local economy.
“BT is making big changes to transform customer services, with Dundee benefiting from more jobs and significant investment in systems to transform how customers connect with us.
“We were very pleased to welcome Jenny Marra MSP and Councillor Ken Guild to Telephone House today and show them how our operations make a difference to people here and all around the UK day in and day out.”
Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, said: “I’ve worked closely with the Communication Workers’ Union on a number of their campaigns for improvements in contact centres and was keen to visit BT, as one of Dundee’s leading private sector employers, to gain a deeper understanding of the roles its members carry out in such a fast changing, dynamic environment. I’m pleased to witness BT’s ongoing commitment to providing quality jobs in Dundee.”
Cllr Ken Guild leader of Dundee City Council said: "BT has a long established and mutually successful relationship with Dundee and has provided a wide range of employment opportunities to people in the city.
“It was interesting for me to be able to see for myself exactly how that operation works and the role played by individuals who have chances for career advancement and development within one of the country's blue-chip companies."
The visitors met advisers who help business and residential customers with a range of services – from orders for phone lines, broadband, mobiles and BT Sport to billing and directory enquiries and faults – and also visited the 999 team, who answered 3.5 million emergency calls last year.
Nearly 300 of the Dundee advisers work with businesses all around the UK, as part of a 24/7 operation providing help and support for firms’ broadband and telephony as well as more technical areas.
The site in Ward Road is also home to BT’s largest sales centre in the UK, with advisers handling more than 230,000 calls from potential and existing customers in the last quarter.
Senior managers outlined plans for the future and how services will be transformed for customers who increasingly get in touch online as well as by phone. The visitors also met apprentices, new recruits and those identified as future leaders and heard about the training and development opportunities on offer at BT.
Dundee is home to BT’s biggest contact centre operations in Scotland, which helped the company contribute around £110 million* to the Dundee economy in 2015/16. A recent report from Regeneris Consulting showed BT supports more than 1,300 jobs in Dundee through direct employment, spending with contractors and suppliers and the spending of employees, and spent £1 million with Dundee suppliers in the last year.
For more information about the jobs currently available at the BT site in Dundee, visit
http://btcareers.manpower.co.uk
ENDS
*The overall economic impact of BT and EE activities is expressed as a “Gross Value Added” (GVA)* contribution totalling £1.08 billion for Scotland, of which £110 million was in Dundee.
