ONTARIO, CANADA – Windsor City has city council staff put out the word that they are considering contracting out its 311 call center. On the table as well is the use of AI chatbots. They’re doing this to save about half a million dollars in costs in that department.
The 311 call center is the residents’ primary contact point to access municipal services. The department currently has 12 trained call operators handling around 100,000 calls a year. Each operator is earning CAD 30 an hour.
However, things are still up for consideration. The city council staff, at this time, are only preparing documents to request pitches from private companies. The city council will look at their proposals to see who can do the work and how much it will cost, and then decide whether to outsource the 311 call center service before anything changes. This entire process could take months.
Also, if this pushes through, the 12 people in the department would be given bumping rights to move into other jobs within the city.
Reactions to the City’s Announcement
The CUPE 543 is “disheartened” upon hearing the news. Angela Sbrocca, the union’s appointed administrator, says that contracting out to a third-party company or AI could lead to poor customer service. Windsor residents may feel a loss of personal connection if calls are handled by people (or AI chatbots) who don’t know the city very well.
On the other hand, outsourcing could save the city money (which is its primary goal), which they could allocate to community projects or public programs that need it. It could also benefit from the systems and technology that the outsourced partner brings, particularly in terms of service efficiency and effectiveness.
