Teletech Holdings is laying off all 485 of its call centre staff in Halifax.

K.C. Higgins, a spokeswoman for the Colorado company, said the changing business needs of an unidentified Teletech client that decided to move work out of the company’s site in Bayers Lake Business Park prompted the layoffs.

"It was their decision," she said Monday in an interview from Englewood, Colo. Teletech’s operations in Amherst aren’t affected by the decision.

Ms. Higgins wouldn’t disclose the reasons behind the client’s move. She said it was no reflection on the Halifax workforce and that Teletech is looking for new business for the call centre.

"It’s a great workforce," she said. "We’re trying to find other work for the site so employees can keep their jobs. We have no plans to close the site."

Ms. Higgins said Teletech, which provides business outsourcing services in 18 countries, will continue to work out of the Halifax location until at least April 26 and will help laid-off workers find other employment.

In 2003, Teletech signed a deal with the province under which it would receive $11.8 million in payroll rebates if it created 1,495 jobs in Nova Scotia.

In 2006, the company announced it was looking to add 300 more staff at its Halifax contact centre to assist customers calling for wireless communications services. Those jobs would start at $10 an hour.

Teletech said then that if it found those additional people, it would have 825 people working in Halifax and 255 in its Amherst call centre, although it noted that finding workers in a tight labour market wasn’t easy...

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