Dear Colleagues,
Over the last two months, I have written to you about our efforts to mitigate the impact that the economic downturn may have on the campus community. Thanks largely to your cooperation and creativity, we have been able to carve out almost $8.5 million from the University's operating budget. While this is a laudable accomplishment, we know that we are only at the end of the beginning of this crisis.
The leadership team and members of the faculty and staff have worked quickly and effectively to reduce costs by adopting the following measures:
• suspending capital construction projects
• limiting travel and entertainment costs
• reducing the number of university funded cell phones and purchases
• identifying programs with potential to increase revenue
• placing computers on a four, rather than three, year cycle
• centralizing most purchasing and standardizing processes
Because 65 percent of the University's operating budget is dedicated to compensation, there is a temporary freeze on all faculty and staff hiring until we have a clearer picture of what the future holds. A review process, directed by Martha Peugh-Wade, Assistant Vice President, Human Resources, has been created to review requests for positions that are deemed critical and provide necessary services to students.
Human Resources was also asked to prepare a voluntary work reduction option that would allow individual staff to reduce their time at work while maintaining non-salary benefits. After researching several options, the Voluntary Reduction in Time program (VRT) is one of several measures that USF is adopting in an effort to reduce costs and perhaps avoid deeper, more difficult cuts in the future.
Over the next month, Human Resources will present overviews of the VRT program across the University. They will provide you with the program guidelines, Q&A/FAQ sheets and links to other supportive materials. They are also available to help supervisors and managers analyze workflow and business processes in departments to determine the feasibility of this program for specific departments. I encourage you to attend one of these presentations or visit the VRT website to learn more about this program: http://www.usfca.edu/hr/policies/policies_idx.html
I realize our cost reduction efforts require adjustments to familiar processes and procedures that can be awkward and frustrating, so I am doubly appreciative of your understanding, cooperation and support.
Sincerely,
Stephen A. Privett, SJ
President
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