TeleTech Inc. will ramp down its Tucson operations over the next five months as a major client shifts business to another local firm.
TeleTech spokesman Bob Livingston confirmed the downsizing over the next few months but said he could not say whether it will mean a net loss of jobs in Tucson.
TeleTech has long had a call center here where customer service representatives track parcels for United Parcel Service and take other customer service calls.
TeleTech had the full-time equivalent of 800 jobs at the end of 2008 and ranks 56th in the Star 200 survey of major Southern Arizona employers. That was down 200 jobs from a year earlier.
In a May 5 memo obtained by the Star and addressed to "all Tucson employees," the company's top local executive, Traci Childs, announced the changes.
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She wrote "that in response to changes in business conditions, our client has decided to transfer some of the work currently performed at TeleTech's Tucson service delivery center (SDC) to another local vendor, APAC."
Apac Customer Services Inc., another giant in the outsourced-services industry, ranked 63rd in the Star 200 with 750 local jobs.
"We will gradually ramp down the business over the next five months," Childs wrote. "We expect to notify you at least 60 days in advance of the date on which your job will be eliminated or transferred to APAC."
Officials with Apac, 1650 S. Research Loop, could not be reached for comment Friday. The company publicizes that it pays workers $8 to $9 an hour.
Livingston said Apac will decide how many TeleTech employees make the transition to Apac.
Teletech plans to "work closely with our client and with APAC to make the transition occur smoothly and with as little disruption as possible to daily operations," Childs wrote.