T-Mobile is consolidating some of its customer support centers across the United States, the wireless phone company affirmed this week.
The move will result in the relocation of some employees who are part of T-Force, the company’s online customer support division, where specialists provide subscribers with billing and tech assistance through social media and other digital platforms.
The changes were first detailed in a social media post by someone purporting to be a T-Mobile employee, who claimed that the company was implementing “massive layoffs” at T-Force.
“They are essentially replacing tenured and experienced specialists with new hires out of call centers,” the post claimed.
After numerous reports that the company was implementing layoffs, a spokesperson for T-Mobile clarified that the company was actually consolidating its T-Force operation into five hubs, and that workers will be given opportunities to stay. T-Force is currently spread out among customer support centers, which will remain open, the spokesperson confirmed.
“As online support remains a priority, and we plan to stay fully staffed, we hope as many of our employees as possible stay on with us,” the spokesperson said. “To support them, we have offered relocation packages. Those who are unable to move are eligible for alternate roles at T-Mobile. We will provide those who choose to leave the company with transition support and anticipate very few departures.”
Employees who do not accept a relocation offer or a different position within T-Mobile will be given a severance package that includes several weeks of pay and some ancillary benefits, according to an employee at the company who spoke with The Desk on background. The employee asked to remain anonymous because they intend to stay with T-Mobile and feared repercussions for speaking with a reporter without authorization from the company.
T-Force grew from an initiative at T-Mobile to provide U.S.-based customer support operations as a way to differentiate itself from rivals AT&T and Verizon, who use a mixture of domestic and foreign-based call centers and online support teams.
Customers with eligible postpaid T-Mobile plans are almost certain to reach someone in the United States when they contact customer support by phone or online. The company still maintains foreign-based customer support operations for subscribers of its prepaid plans and Metro by T-Mobile service.
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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information about T-Mobile’s customer support operation, including T-Force, and to clarify that the T-Force is consolidating among customer support centers, all of which will remain open.
