Comcast Cable is still planing to open a new 60,000 square-foot
customer service support center at 18665 Madrone Parkway in Morgan
Hill by the end of the year.
Comcast Cable is still planing to open a new 60,000 square-foot customer service support center at 18665 Madrone Parkway in Morgan Hill by the end of the year.
“We have not pinned down a month yet, but it will be in the fourth quarter,” said Andrew Johnson, vice president of Comcast.
Comcast will begin an extensive recruiting process toward the end of summer, hiring between 300 and 500 new employees.
People interested in filing for a job should go to www.comcast.com and go to the career section. Besides hiring for customer support, the firm also will be hiring for management and supervisory positions as well as technical support personnel for the center.
On June 18 the City Council approved, 4-0, an agreement allowing the company to delay paying up to 80 percent of sewer/traffic impact fees because of the new center’s high ($17 million) start up costs.
Comcast agrees to pay the full amount within two years in monthly payments, including interest. The required down payment comes to $58,755; the total financed amount is $235,020.
Comcast promised the city to make a “good faith effort” to recruit and hire Morgan Hill residents, according to the city staff report.
The new support center will house a local call center to improve customer service levels and respond to local Bay Area customer service calls, customer inquiries and other needs for Comcast cable television and other service needs.
And it will house customer account executive positions, customer service training and supervisory staff, operations staff and human resource employees.
“It will not be a telemarketing center,” said Garrett Toy, Business Assistance and Housing director for the city when Comcast first announced it would locate in Morgan Hill. He said it is his understanding that people, having heard or seen ads in the media, would call the center for information.
Pay and benefits, Johnson said in June, will be similar to Comcast’s call center in Concord where 900 people showed up to apply for 600 job openings.
According to Johnson, new employees will receive an extensive on the job training course that will last four weeks. There will be two weeks of classroom training followed by two weeks of on-the-job training.
“The new recruits will be paired up with existing call center representatives,” says Johnson.
He stressed that Comcast would definitely be looking for people with foreign language skills. The potential employee pool in South Valley area was a factor in choosing Morgan Hill.
“We looked at over a dozen different cities and found the demographics of Morgan Hill and the surrounding communities make it an attractive place to locate a center.” Johnson said.
Comcast also intends to have a large community presence. With approximately 500 people employed in the new facility, Comcast feels that they have a responsibility to giving back.
“We like to be actively involved with the community. We intend to have a large community interest,” said Johnson.
An employee force of 500 would make the company the fourth largest employer in Morgan Hill.
Comcast provides basic cable, digital cable and high-speed Internet services. They are currently in the process of merging with AT&T broadband.
Despite this new merger, Comcast has no intentions on setting their sites on local business like Charter Cable.
“We’re not interested with Charter. We have more than enough on our plates,” said Johnson.
Comcast service is not available in South Valley but is used in Los Gatos and parts of the East Bay.
Besides current cable service, the company has plans to expand into high definition television and video on demand, according to Laurie Giamonna, vice president of customer care.
Comcast has over 60,000 employees in 41 states and, to date, more than 4,000 in the Bay Area.
In 2002 Comcast’s operations in the Bay Area contributed over $55 million in franchise fees to local cities and counties and an additional $20 million to the State of California.
Since these franchise fees go to the cities that receive Comcast service, none will come to Morgan Hill, according to Jack Dilles, city finance director.
“We are, however, hoping that Comcast employees will spend their earnings locally,” Dilles said. “That would boost sales tax revenue that has been lagging for two years.
Details on Comcast’s hiring procedure: www.comcast.com and click on the career section.
