Call Center Lays off 175 Employees in Valencia

The loss of a call center contract has led Arvato North America to begin laying off 175 employees this month at its Valencia offices. Among the positions let go were managers, program specialists, supervisors and more than 100 customer service representatives, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the state Employment Development Department in late December. The employees will be let go in phases between now and June, said Saul Cabrera, director of human resources. Arvato is making the cuts after it lost a call center contract, with the client deciding to offshore that work, said Cabrera, who declined to name the client. Arvato is a subsidiary of Germany-based mass media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. The Valencia facility also does fulfillment of pamphlets for the health care industry and e-commerce services. The division has nine other locations in North America. The laid off employees are being offered severance packages. Arvato is working internally to find positions for the employees in other divisions and with organizations in the Santa Clarita Valley for jobs at other employers. “We are working with everyone to find jobs,” Cabrera said. The Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp. was aware that staffing cuts were being made at Avanto but was not aware of the exact number. Arvato occupies a 165,141-square-foot industrial property located at 29011 Commerce Center Drive in the Valencia Commerce Center. In August 2012, the company renewed its lease there for five years in a deal valued at $6.3 million. “The overall health of the organization is fine,” Cabrera said. “We are not going to move and will continue in this building.” Valencia is not alone in dealing with staffing cuts. Arvato is phasing out a 300,000-square-foot distribution center in Duncan, South Carolina by June. The closure will cost 130 jobs. Distribution services will be handled by Arvato facilities in Louisville, Ky., and Pleasant Prairie, Wis. The layoffs occur at a time when Arvato is restructuring itself and eliminating divisions. Arvato in Valencia, for instance, had been known as Arvato Digital Services. The company is now organizing itself “in strategic business units that can process industries, markets or regions in a more targeted way,” according to the Arvato Digital Services website.