Your Call Is Important to Us: Call Centres in Lethbridge, Alberta

Abstract

In-bound and out-bound call centres have developed due to the spread of information and communication technologies and growing demand for information and technical support on a round-the-clock basis. Intense cost competition in the call centre sector has been the impetus for the decentralization of call centre activity to smaller peripheral cities in western Canada. Lethbridge, Alberta provides an apt case study venue with the birth of five call centres in just four years. Locational factors such as Canadian dollar exchange rates, time zones, and business climate are identified and evaluated based on interviews with management respondents. While call centre occupations have been traditionally viewed as low skilled, low paid, and “dead-end jobs,” the Lethbridge experience suggests some basis for a more optimistic view.