On March 22 Verizon formally opened its new customer service and operations center, staffed by nearly 1,000 employees from the Northern New Jersey region. The 150,000-square-foot center is located at the Eisenhower Corporate Campus in Livingston.
“This is a great opportunity for Verizon to streamline our operations and create a more productive work environment all while using new tools a high-tech environment to better engage and serve our customers,” said Tom Maguire, area president for Verizon’s Mid-Atlantic region. “This new facility allows our sales representatives and other personnel to handle several areas of our business including our industry-leading FiOS service and other voice and data services for consumers and small business.”
The Eisenhower Campus, located at 290 West Mt. Pleasant Ave., was formerly occupied by Bellcorp and Prudential. The campus offers a full-service cafeteria, physical fitness center, teleconferencing facilities and other amenities. Not far from Route 280, it also offers easy access for employees being relocated from other Verizon facilities in the region.
Verizon has already made extensive enhancements and renovations to the facility. With a goal of using sustainable materials and keeping the facility “green,” the company used recycled or mostly recycled materials in the Sheetrock, carpeting, floor coverings and work stations. The center now has energy-efficient lighting, water-saving restroom fixtures and Energy Star-rated appliances.
“We were able to recycle more than 408 tons of demolition and construction waste materials from this site – materials that would have at one time been dumped into our landfills,” said Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey. “Those materials were replaced with ceilings, lighting, flooring and walls that were made with recycled materials – fixtures that will save water and energy and will help protect the environment.”
Most of the employees in the new facility are being relocated from former Verizon-owned buildings in Madison, Scotch Plains and elsewhere.
“Approximately one-third of Verizon’s workforce from the previous sites in Madison and Scotch Plains are Essex County residents, and this new call center in Livingston will not only improve customer service to subscribers throughout Essex County, but will provide employment opportunities for our residents,” said Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. “Verizon has been a very good corporate neighbor, and this shows their ongoing commitment to Essex County and the state of New Jersey,”
Livingston Mayor Arlene Johnson said, “We’re really looking forward to Verizon being a vibrant part of our community. We’re hoping some of their 1,000 employees spend time in town, shop at our merchants and really get to know our dynamic town.”
