Dell Lays Off 250

Today, computer maker Dell announced layoffs at its Nashville facility.

Spokesman Ken Bissell says the company is giving severance packages to 250 technical support operators-the people who answer the phone when customers call in for help with their computers.

“We will provide opportunities for some of these employees to return to work, we have positions open in our sales organization and some of these employees will be eligible for interviews and possible employment back into Dell.”

Bissell says the sales call operation in Nashville is growing, and that there currently are around 100 openings in that department. The laid off tech support workers will not get automatic preference over outside candidates.

Bissell says there will still be a –quote- “significant number” of tech support workers in Nashville, and that jobs in the warehouse, sales call center and the Lebanon factory are not involved.

Of the approximately 4-thousand Middle Tennesseans employed by Dell, Bissell says the layoffs affect 6 percent.

The layoffs may affect Dell’s incentive package from Metro. Each July the city gives the company 500 dollars per worker, based on the facility’s average employment figures for the year. Come next summer, the check amount could drop by up to 125-thousand dollars–a small number when compared to the more than 14-billion dollars in revenue Dell reported in the last quarter.