Convergys to lay off 160 more workers

For the second time this year, Clarksville's Convergys call center has confirmed a large, impending layoff, this time permanently affecting 160 workers.

It further signals what appears to be a major scale-back in operations here.

Employees have been informed that a client program at the Clarksville contact center will be ending on July 14, "impacting up to 160 employees due to low call volumes," according to Convergys Director of Corporate Communications Ed Loyd.

The second major layoff announced at Convergys this year, Loyd said the combination of two waves of 2017 layoffs "accounts for the bulk of our current workforce."

While asked for a number, Loyd did not specify the total number of employees that will remain at the plant after July 14. 

Convergys has been in Clarksville since 1999 and since then has fluctuated between 600 to 1,000 employees — until as late as this year.

"Our first priority has been to share this news with our team," Loyd said, "and the options that are available to them.

"We are actively working to bring new business to the site and have a long-standing and positive relationship with the Clarksville community.

"We hope bringing a new program to the site will enable us to retain as many of our team as possible before the end of the 60-day notice period," Loyd said.

Previously in February, Convergys announced an initial layoff of 134 workers in another one of the plant's client programs.

Convergys employees are not represented by a collective bargaining agreement.

The company was originally housed at Two Rivers Center and moved after the Riverside Drive flood of May 2010 to a new setting off Dover Road at 326 Convergys Way. 

Reach Business Editor Jimmy Settle at 931-245-0247 and on Twitter @settle_leaf.