“According to the latest news, the Webhelp project is among a minority of projects announced by Montréal International (MI) that did not come to fruition,” said Ève Caron, director of public relations at MI The newspaper wanted to know whether the 1000 jobs announced in 2020 saw the light of day or not.
A week ago, Le Journal reported that Japanese auto parts giant Denso, warmly welcomed by our executives, ended up having neither an R&D lab nor an employee with us.
However, Le Journal learned that customer experience provider Webhelp, which wanted to hire 1,000 people to telecommute between $15 and $20 an hour, “in Quebec, in Gaspésie, in Estrie, not necessarily just in Montreal,” was Quebec Also not recognized had ambitions according to Montreal International (MI).
“In the fall of 2020, this project proved to be particularly strategic due to the “hybrid” nature of the jobs created in the context of the lockdown related to the global pandemic,” explained Ève Caron from MI.
However, “the rise in wages coupled with the global economic slowdown following this volatile period has dampened some investors' enthusiasm,” she continued.
Note that Quebec has not provided any financial support to the company.
Evasive web help
In response to numerous questions from Le Journal, Webhelp finally responded through its parent company Concentrix that it actually still had employees here, but would not say how many.
“We continue to have team members (or “game changers” as we call our team members) in Quebec and continue to serve customers in this market,” limited himself to the laconic statement.
Last March, Webhelp, then the largest private company in Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), in which Power Corporation has a 15.5% stake, merged its operations with the Californian giant Concentrix.
More than 20% never see the light of day
Additionally, Montréal International (MI) told the Journal that more than one in five investment announcements bear little fruit after three years.
“Surveys conducted among foreign investors supported by MI have shown through 2019 that more than 80% of the projects we announced were implemented over a three-year period,” explained Ève Caron of the organization.
“We had to stop conducting these surveys due to internal staffing shortages,” she added.
Remember that Montreal International laid off almost 20% of its workforce last Wednesday.
“What hurts most is our $1.8 million agreement with the Ministry of Immigration, Francisification and Integration, which will not be renewed,” explained its CEO Stéphane Paquet in an interview with the Journal.
–In collaboration with Sylvain Larocque