Rogers is replacing hundreds of its Canadian customer service agents with AI chatbots, leading to mass layoffs and growing backlash from former employees who say they were used to train the very tech that took their jobs.
The telecom giant confirmed to The Globe and Mail that it has ended its contract with Foundever, a global call centre company. Employment lawyers estimate the move has resulted in roughly 900 Canadian job losses.
“We’ve been hearing from dozens of Foundever employees who say they’re among roughly 900 people caught up in a major round of layoffs, reportedly sparked by Rogers pulling its contract and shifting to AI-powered chat support,” said Lior Samfiru, a lawyer with Samfiru Tumarkin LLP.
All of the workers were based in Canada. While Rogers didn’t say how many people were let go, the company insists that “there is no impact to [its] internal customer-service team,” according to spokesperson Zac Carreiro.
But a Reddit post from 11 days ago from an apparent Rogers employee affected, claimed they were one of the more than 1,000 laid-off agents paints a different picture.
“I am a part of the 1000+ agents in Roger’s that are getting laid off and I would like us to be heard and actually have a voice for once,” the person wrote.
They claimed they were told to stay silent. “Why has management specifically told us to stay quiet and not to go to the media about this? Because they know this is wrong on so many levels.”
The post accuses Rogers of using workers to train an AI tool introduced last year—under the pretense of helping them—only to later replace them with it. “We were exploited and taken advantage of,” the employee claims.
Rogers says the decision reflects how more customers are using “digital tools and self-services,” and confirmed it now uses a virtual assistant named “Anna” to help with support.
Still, after buying Shaw last year, Rogers had promised to build a fully Canada-based support team and hire 1,000 new agents. When asked for an update, the company told The Globe that “the majority of agents” are now based in Canada—suggesting it may have pulled back on that commitment.
