Fishers call center to hire 500; Safeco adding 100 in Indianapolis
By Becky Bowman and Bruce C. Smith
becky.bowman@indystar.com
CallTech Communications and Safeco Corp. will add a combined 600 jobs to
the Indianapolis area, the companies said Monday.
CallTech will open a call center in Fishers next month to handle
technical help and other calls for Verizon Communications' Digital
Subscriber Line and Internet service, creating up to 400 jobs by year's
end and an additional 100 by 2007.
Safeco, a national auto, home and small-business insurance agency, will
add 100 jobs to its Downtown Indianapolis office by Jan. 1 as it
relocates its East Coast financial solutions office from Latham, N.Y.
CallTech hiring and training began this month with 50 employees.
Officials expect another 50 to begin training soon. The jobs pay about
$10 or $12 per hour but can go as high as $20.
Jobs will be posted on Safeco's Web site in the next month.
Economic development officials said CallTech will spend $4.6 million
locally in the next four years, including improvements to the facility
at 12175 Visionary Way in Northeast Commerce Park, north of 116th Street
and Lantern Road. The company has leased the 50,000-square-foot
structure, formerly the home of a Charles Schwab call center, for 10
years.
CallTech Chairman Robert J. Massey said work at the center is not
telemarketing. "About 99 percent of our operations are inbound calls,"
he said.
The Safeco jobs, including management, customer service and data entry
and processing posts, will be added to the office at 500 N. Meridian
St., said Eric Trott, a spokesman at the company's Seattle headquarters.
Safeco employs more than 700 people here in the company's second-largest
operations base.
The financial solutions division serves banks and other lenders by
monitoring homeowners' insurance coverage on mortgaged homes, Trott
said. Indianapolis will be the Eastern U.S. headquarters of the
division, which is based in Santa Ana, Calif.
Fishers was chosen as CallTech's newest hub because of an available work
force with basic technical competency, Massey said.
Safeco chose Indianapolis because of a local insurance knowledge base
and existing resources, including company-owned property, that could aid
growth, officials said. Latham employees may apply for the Indianapolis
posts, but the company expects to fill most of the jobs locally, Trott
said.
CallTech has about $100 million per year in revenues. S.R.
Teleperformance, an international company based in France, acquired an
85 percent ownership of the company two months ago. Managers own the
balance.
Call Star reporter Becky Bowman at (317) 444-6306.
