An Oamaru call centre for an internet-based tax refund company has confirmed it has made 66 staff redundant because of new computer technology which means it does not need so many employees.
Taxrefunds.co.nz Ltd told staff on Monday how the call centre would be restructured after informing them last week there were likely to be redundancies.
Staff had until yesterday to comment on the proposal.
Initially the company said it would be reducing staff numbers from 89 full and part-time employees to 22, but told staff on Monday it would be retaining 23.
The company's chief executive, Matthew Crosswell, said staff were now being offered the opportunity to apply for the 23 jobs.
Successful applicants would be notified before Christmas.
Employment contracts for staff will end on December 23.
The decision has come after the company installed more sophisticated computer software, which significantly reduces the number of the tax refunds processed manually.
Over the past year the company had increased the number of refund applications it could process automatically from 70% to 90%.
