S.A. call center to lay off 410 workers

A call center company that has been in San Antonio since 1999 said Wednesday that it was closing one of its two local offices, leaving 410 people out of work at least temporarily.

Brett Saks, vice president of human resources for kgb, said he hopes a large number of those workers will find work with the kgb center at 6010 Exchange Parkway, the San Antonio facility that will remain open.

That center will look to hire about 30 people a week for the next 12 weeks, "possibly longer," Saks said in a prepared statement. All employees in good standing at the Wurzbach Road center that is closing will be encouraged to apply for the openings.

Kgb is a worldwide provider of directory assistance, customer care and other call center serviced that was known as INFONXX until last year.

It opened its first San Antonio center in 1999 with 300 employees and added a second office in 2003 during a growth spurt. Officials said in mid-2004, they expected the facilities would grow by 1,700 employees to a total of 2,200 workers.

The layoff, if it stays close to its current number, would be one of the largest the city has seen as the national economic shakeup worsens.

Kgb officials did not use the nosediving economy as a reason for the closing, however. It was instead “a business decision made for operational efficiency” after the lease on the Wurzbach Road facility expired, said spokeswoman Amy Wolfcale.