SC Data Center in Hannibal to close May 31; employees to be offered to become home agents

HANNIBAL, Mo — All in-person employees working at the SC Data Center facility in Hannibal, also known as Swiss Colony, will become home agents in the next several months.

Representatives at SC Data Center, Inc., headquartered in Monroe, Wis., said Thursday the Hannibal facility at 3201 Palmyra Road will close on May 31.

The call center, which takes orders and payments for various food and home related items, opened its Hannibal location in 1998.

Jason Smart, human resources manager for SC Data Center, said no jobs will be eliminated in the transition. The small number of employees left in the building are being offered opportunities to work at home.

“This has been a difficult decision for SC Data Center to make, considering we have operated out of the Hannibal Contact Center facility for 25 years,” the company reported in a statement released March 16. “Employees at the Hannibal facility have been outstanding additions to its family of employees. This decision was not based on individual employee performance.

“Discussions with employees and their ability to work from their own home will be taking place over the next several months. The company has been in contact with the state’s rapid response team to ensure they are aware of this decision so services can be provided promptly to displaced employees.”

Smart said the pivot to a fully remote business is in response to the success of the work-at-home program that started during the pandemic. The company realized it could continue to provide a high level of service while people worked from home.

“It was an interesting time coming through the pandemic. We sent as many people home as we could, and it turned out to be really successful,” he said. “Many of these employees continue to work as home agents, and all of our hiring in this area has been focused on home agents for the last two years.”

Smart said the company will not continue to use the building in Hannibal. He said it will probably be sold.