Time to Regroup: Staffing Decisions in a Recession

Writing in Business Officer, Karla Hignite reviews the logic and reasoning behind a number of institutions' decisions about how to handle cuts in employment due to the current financial crisis. She describes actions and planning at Florida State University, Skidmore College, St. Catherine University, Valparaiso University, Cornell University, and includes a sidebar with suggestions from the College and University Personell Association (CUPA-HR).

In response to market realities and the uncertainties that remain, colleges and universities across the country have engaged in major cost-cutting initiatives to meet budget. They've done so with extreme care, however, knowing that faculty and staff are critical to institution mission. Even in situations that have required elimination of whole programs and associated personnel, decisions have been largely collaborative and transparent, as leaders aimed for the right combination of actions with the least impact on students—and that avoid outright layoffs wherever possible. In the process, tough conversations and strategic review of priorities have given many leaders renewed energy for repositioning their institutions and rethinking how people are organized and how work gets done.

This article highlights the recession-related staffing decisions implemented at several institutions, where leaders are focusing their sights for the out years.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

Sandwiched Generations in the Campus Workplace

In this Business Officer article Margo Vanover Porter interviews author Lynne C. Lancaseter about how the recession is impacting the different generations - Boomers, Millennials, Xers, etc. - in their workplaces and careers. There are also interviews with four different campus business officers, discussing how the recession is effecting their staff, careers, and institutions:

Traditionalists are fantastic role models because they've seen it all before. They tend to say, “Be calm. This, too, shall pass.” We can learn useful coping strategies from Traditionalists.

Baby Boomers are very shaken by the recession, because they typically have not saved well for the future. At the same time, Boomers know how to survive and to work their way through challenging times. They still want to come out on top when the economy recovers.

Xers, who are our best innovators, grew up with change so early in their careers that they are good at dealing with it. They experienced the dot-com boom and bust, and they've seen the economy's spikes and lows. They know how to go right on making change and trying new things and exploding old myths and getting rid of the status quo.

For Millennials, this economy is all new. They have seen a robust job market throughout their entire coming of age. They have gone to the mall all their lives and seen “Help wanted. Help wanted. Help wanted.” A Millennial could quit a job at Abercrombie and Fitch on Thursday to take time off to go on a family vacation and go back to the same mall a week later and get a new job at the Gap.

Riding Out the Storm: More on How HR is Coping With Economic Realities

Mandatory furloughs, voluntary furloughs, voluntary reduction in time from full- to part-time, phased retirements, pulling in-house what had previously been outsourced, new efficiencies in administrative services, hiring freezes, salary freezes, cross-training . . . HR is getting creative, and no one wants to lay people off.

"As of this writing, The University of Washington plans to cut at least 600 jobs. Up to 50 people may lose jobs at Colorado State University. Utah State University is laying off 20 workers. The jobs of eight workers at Riverland Community College (Minn.) are in jeopardy. Nearly 100 workers at Harvard—supposedly the richest university in the world—have lost their jobs over the past year."

"As the nation’s unemployment rate continues to climb, many higher ed leaders aren’t sitting back, waiting for the inevitable to happen. HR professionals are being proactive, taking advantage of the recession to either streamline or create practices that save money, stabilize expenses, and, ultimately, prevent layoffs."

Read the full article here:
http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1286

Four Day Work Weeks: Headed Your Way?

This brief article also provides links to interviews with three campus-based administrators who have been involved with the implementation of work day changes on their campuses:

Is it going to be the rage—or just a short-term fad? Birmingham, Alabama started doing it in July. The state of Utah started doing it in August. The state of Washington began this month.

Colleges and universities are trying it out in significant numbers. Count Delaware Valley College, Palo Alto College, Rose State College, Florida International University and dozens others among the experimenters.

I’m talking about the four-day work week.

Retired Professors: Nuisances or Important Resources?

As Boomer professors begin to wind down their full time participation in academic departments, keeping an ear out for the best ways to manage them in retirement is not a bad idea, so we're sharing this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education with you:

Certainly, the dean who asked for advice on "handling" her retired faculty members had a point: Some professors do interfere in departmental business long after they retire, attempting to exercise control over policies and practices in which they no longer have a stake. As a dean, you need to deal with those folks on an individual basis.

But in my experience, the vast majority of emeritus professors genuinely wish to remain involved in appropriate and productive ways. I, for one, intend to keep them close.

HR Horizons: Curbing Health-Care Costs

Volume 3, Issue 2 of this Web publication from NACUBO is available on line. It contains useful information about how institutions are cutting health-care costs, especially by turning to wellness and fitness programs, as well as by using other techniques. Among other topics, Duke University's Prospective Health program and Rollins College's 100 percent coverage of preventive care. Even if this does not fit into the scope of your professional responsibilities, or your personal interests, you should ensure that those on your campus who do address these issues are aware of this publication.

Campus Staff Wellness Program(s) Checkup

Writing for University Business, Carol Patten reviews the state of wellness programming on a number of college and university campuses.

At more higher education institutions: HR leaders are finding creative ways to drive participation to record numbers, then examining their effects on specific areas such as employee attendance and health care claims. Their hope is to identify and expand programs that offer high ROI, eliminate those that don't, and fill in the gaps to help employees reach health goals.

Smart Hiring: Strategic Staffing Plans

This article, by Carol Patton in University Business, looks at ways a number of institutions are looking strategically at hiring and retention practices.

[A]s schools look toward the future, staffing becomes a big question mark. More and more baby boomers are exiting the workforce, which is fueling the skilled labor shortage. Some institutional leaders are concerned that they won't be ready, that they will be unable to recruit the talent they desperately need. So they're focusing their energies on designing strategic staffing plans that enable them to explore their school's risks and vulnerabilities as well as marketplace opportunities in order to build a competent labor force.

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HR leaders need to ask themselves two questions: Does HR hire people to fill jobs? Or does it recruit candidates who can grow into positions that reflect the changing marketplace? If your practices are more in line with the first option, watch out. Your staff could be stuck in neutral, unable to develop new skills demanded by their new environment. High turnover is usually one of the symptoms.