IQT - A Little Inside Info

So, recently IQT here in Oshawa totally shut down permanently. No reason given, no warning, crazy. I used to work for IQT when it was still called Durham Contact Centre (DCC) and I still know some people that still worked there at the time. I met up with a guy that had worked there for about seven years and I asked him to tell me everything that happened. He was more than willing to tell me because he was pretty upset about it.

So, the story goes like this. Weird things were happening before the day of the shut-down. Paycheques getting screwed up was the first clue. For about two months before things such as holiday pay stopped showing up on paycheques. Employees vigilant enough to see this went to payroll. Payroll would agree that it was a problem and that would fix it. On the next paycheque where they thought holiday pay would be showed up instead as a lieu day. Sometimes they would see their paycheque short hours, nothing big mind you, just 2-3 hours. Whoever complained got it corrected.

The next situation is a weird one but offers a big clue as to how much the brass at IQT Canada Inc. knew about what was happening and what was about to happen. The call centre's manager, Bob just finishes up a meeting with a company executive. He walks the executive downstairs. Before the exec. leaves he says to Bob: You know im a little surprised that you guys haven't packed anything up yet. Bob responds confused: Why would we be packing anything up. Exec.: Well, you guys are moving aren't you? Bob, now really confused: What do you mean moving, no one told me anything. Where are we moving? Now the Exec. is kind of panicked, he starts looking around nervous and finally says: Oh. Well, if no one said anything then I guess its not important. With that he quickly turns around and gets out of there.

So, now it comes to the day of. My friend pulls into the parking lot for the afternoon shift which starts at 3PM. In the parking lot is eight police cars. He starts to walk up the the front doors and a cop says that he cant go in. He asks why and the cop says because IQT is close permanently. He said at first he was obviously shocked, then everything that had been happening for the past two months started making more sense: the screwed up pay, the strange conversation with the Exec. and his latest paycheque was late. He is standing there watching his fellow co-workers walking out, some crying. That day they had even scheduled the day shift. One hour before the start of the afternoon shift the whole system went down then police started showing up.

His conclusion. They knew. IQT Canada knew at least for a couple months that this was going to happen. They kept a lid on things or at least tried to until the call centre in Nashville was completed and then they dissolved their operations in Canada completely. They planned to nickel and dime the employees as much as possible before going into bankruptcy and hiding behind it. The employees are still owed a months worth of pay and they are told that they wont get it because IQT Canada no longer exists.

Brutal story. I wish the employees all the best on their future endeavors.