| There are alternatives to layoffs |
In a letter dated Jan. 15, the UGA Staff
Council’s Pay and Classification Committee expressed their
concerns about potential layoffs to Arnett C. Mace Jr., provost,
and Andy Brantley, director of human resources.
Implementing
 |
| Among the Staff Council members
who worked on the letter were (clockwise, from left) Larry
Peter, Brenda Keen, Robyn Ansley, Bob Ratajczak, Leslie
Mason, Barbara Galvond and Margot Peter. (Photo by Peter
Frey) |
some of the suggestions would mean changing long-standing UGA
policy. There is historical precedence, however, for implementing
short-term changes to address pressing problems.
We can think of no more pressing issue than the possibility
that valued employees could lose their jobs.
The following are excerpts of suggestions gathered from staff
and other sources, but do not necessarily represent a consensus.
The complete list is on the Staff Council’s Web site (www.uga.edu/ugasc/,
under Meetings, Minutes and Reports).
We recommend that lowest paid employees ($20,000 or
less) be exempted from any measure that would cut their pay.
• Defer raises for six months or a year (one-time deferment)
and then add to employees’ base salaries/wages upon which
to build subsequent raises or classification changes.
•
Base the pay of non-contracted employees on a 39-hour work week.
Ask contracted faculty and classified staff to participate voluntarily.
• Reduce or cut all overtime.
• Ask faculty and administrators earning in excess of
$100,000 to remit either a percentage of their compensation
or make a one-time donation to a pool for employees whose jobs
are slated to be cut.
• Allow faculty, staff and administrators who are financially
secure to reduce (at least temporarily) their time to three-quarters
or half-time and/or take up to one month’s leave without
pay (without loss of benefits).
• Furlough employees one day per month or allow employees
to donate one day’s pay per month.
Budget/Operations
• Enable departments to roll over remaining budget balances
from one fiscal year to the next. The “spend it or lose
it” policy has sometimes led to poor financial stewardship.
Economy of spending should be rewarded, not penalized.
• Allow greater use of purchase cards or direct online
purchasing. This will save countless dollars in paperwork.
Retirement
• Allow earlier retirement. Offer incentives like a month
or two of service time for which the employee would receive
no salary but would be allowed to realize full retirement benefits
without penalty.
• Retirees collecting pensions who continue to work at
UGA as consultants, full-time or part-time employees should
be given the option to volunteer time in the short term, cut
hours, or leave positions (where necessary) to save them for
employees whose sole income is from their jobs.
Travel
• No funding for discretionary
travel for an indefinite period. Administrators/faculty/staff
could seek scholarships or honoraria, or reimbursement could
be deferred until budget reductions are restored.
Resources
• Survey departments to find out which offices
and buildings are vacant on weekends. Cut power and heating/cooling
to these locations every weekend, in addition to holidays, for
long-term savings on bills.
• Cut campus bus service from every 5 to 7 minutes to
every 10 minutes.
Athletic
Association
• Ask the Athletic Association
to make a one-time donation to UGA’s general operating
fund or set up a regular stipend to be paid to the university
based on revenues collected during athletic events.
LONGER-TERM OPTIONS
Redeployment/Job Sharing
• Institute a university-wide
job-sharing policy. Set up a computer-based pool enabling departments
to post positions that may be shared. Include a section for
staff who want to work part-time to post their names and qualifications.
It may be possible to link employees so that two staff members
can fill one full-time position.
• Look at the entire administrative, teaching and classified
staff as a professional workforce that has flexibility. The
permanent establishment of such a system will enable the university
to make the best use of its talent and provide unity in workforce
deployment.
Executive Share Program
• Partner
with corporations, public agencies and other institutions to
share upper-echelon administrators, faculty and staff on a half-time
basis. UGA could share salary and benefits with the other entity.
What a wonderful opportunity this would offer to establish great
partnerships. Participants would become ambassadors for the
university and ultimately could garner external contributions
and funding that UGA might not otherwise realize. |
Staff Council Leadership:
Ben Bonner, Julie Dingus, Linda Lee Enos, Barbara Galvond, Brenda
Keen, Leslie Mason, Bonnie Norwood, Nelda Parker, Larry Peter,
Margot Peter, Bob Ratajczak, Paul Totis, Sally Vandiver
Pay and Classification Committee: Robyn Ansley,
Danis Brooks, Lucy Brooks, Brad Brown, Paul Rose |
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| Forum Guidelines |
To encourage discussion on issues affecting
the university and higher education in general, the Forum section
appears periodically in Columns. Faculty, staff, administrators
and researchers associated with the university are invited to
submit essays and respond to previous essays.
A committee appointed by University Council and Staff Council
reviews submissions to determine which are of greatest interest
to the university community. Faculty members of the Forum review
committee for 2003–2004 are Mary Frasier (education) and
two colleagues soon to be named by University Council. The staff
representative is Melanie Andrews (legal affairs).
Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the
UGA administration or the review committee. Articles will be
edited to conform with the Associated Press and the UGA stylebooks.
Guidelines for submissions
• Topics should be related to issues in higher education.
• Essays should have broad appeal in the university community.
• Essays should be no longer than 700 words.
• Send essays to Beth Roberts (columns@uga.edu;
News Service, A-205 Stegeman Coliseum). |
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