University Business - May 2009 - (Page 29)

HUMAN RESOURCES Riding Out the Storm ANY PEOPLE HAVE stopped watching the evening news. Why bother? More corporate greed. More stocks plummeting. More people losing their jobs, homes, or life savings. ere’s the occasional “nearing the end of the recession” headline thrown in, but budget struggles have caused a number of layoﬀs on campuses. As of this writing, e 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. e 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. Part one of this column, published in March, highlighted some ideas from HR professionals about how they’re using the down economy to develop more eﬃcient programs and practices. Part two presents more ideas from HR professionals on how they’re positioning their schools to ride out this perfect storm. OUT WITH THE OLD Staﬃng levels at Clemson University (S.C.) are still the same, although ofﬁcials have frozen hiring and salaries as well as stopped several construction universitybusiness.com Part two of a two-part column on how HR is coping with economic realities By Carol Patton M A Clemson University program allows employees to voluntarily switch from full-time to part-time. projects, reports Michelle Piekutowski, associate chief HR oﬃcer at the school, which employs 4,700 workers. “We’ve had a budget cut of about $38 million as of last July 1,” she says. Since deeper cuts may be on the horizon, the HR team is making numerous changes. Two of them are the creation of a threeyear phased retirement plan for faculty and the implementation of a program that includes a ﬁve-day mandatory furlough, a 90-day voluntary furlough, and a voluntary reduction in time through which employees, with supervisor approval, can permanently switch from full-time to part-time. So far, several employees have cut back their hours. While the average reduction has been about 20 percent, Piekutowski points to two who slashed their hours in half, saving the school at least $40,000. “[Budget cuts] are causing folks to re-evaluate their needs and positions,” she says, explaining that some jobs, such as landscapers, may not be needed year round. “Should they have hired [employees] in a reduced position to begin with?” But hard times also generate compassion. Based on an employee suggestion, the school developed a mandatory furlough relief fund this year for low-paid staﬀ. About 300 university employees, alumni, retirees, and local residents contributed $71,000. Surprisingly, Piekutowski says the tax-deductible donations helped 75 percent of these workers come within $15 of their normal paycheck. In the end, she believes the recession will have encouraged HR to eliminate programs that weren’t contributing to the school’s overall goals. It is forcing many schools to take a second look at how they operate and to develop fresh practices that make ﬁscal sense. Another example is Davidson County Community College (N.C.), which supports approximately 650 employees. It just received a 4 percent budget cut and is expecting a 7 percent cut next ﬁscal year. Besides developing an online application process involving job ads placed on the college’s website instead of in newspapers or magazines (which will result in savings in the ﬁve ﬁgures), the HR oﬃce recently piloted a four-day work week for employees in maintenance, physical plant, and business services, says Christine Herrick, the college’s executive director of HR. “We’re hoping it will reduce the need for some part-time staﬀ,” she says. “We can schedule [full-time] staﬀ in a way that will provide coverage for Carol Patton is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer who specializes in covering HR issues. May 2009 | 29 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - May 2009

University Business - May 2009
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Money Matters
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Setting the Standard
Manageable Risk
Five Steps to a Powerful Social Networking Strategy
Higher Ed in the Recession
Community Colleges
What's New
End Note

University Business - May 2009