The Urbana campus could save nearly $26 million from the 623 voluntary employee separation agreements that were approved earlier this month by campus units.
The savings won’t preclude any possible layoffs in the future.
A total of 825 Urbana employees – including faculty members, academic professionals, other academics and civil service employees – applied for the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program or Voluntary Retirement Program. Departments were notified the first week of May whether the requests were approved and the departments then began notifying their employees of the decisions.
Employees will have 45 days from receiving the written agreement to accept or reject it.
Civil service and academic professional employees have until Aug. 15 to separate from the university; faculty members have until Aug. 15, 2011.
Urbana campus officials don’t anticipate another such program, according to Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs at Urbana.
“It was a one-time thing,” she said. “We know we have to get smaller. If we can identify people who are ready and willing to leave, we can restructure and reorganize the talent that is still here. We hope that the program would mitigate any layoffs we’d have to do.”
A total of 624 eligible voluntary separation applications were received for civil service and academic professionals. Of those, 483 were approved and 141 were denied. The total savings from these agreements will be $15,130,838 if everyone accepts the offer. Of the 483 positions, 211 will be filled at lower salaries and 272 positions will be cut.
The voluntary retirement program for faculty members received 164 eligible applications and 153 of those were approved. About 78 faculty positions will be filled at lower salaries and 75 positions will be eliminated. A total savings of $10,764,078 will result from the voluntary retirements if everyone accepts the offer.
The applications that were denied were those that wouldn’t save the UI any money, Kaler said.
If a replacement would have been required at a comparable salary for an employee who wanted to separate, the application probably was denied, she said.
At the same time, some departments decided to cut positions they found value in, but could not afford to continue funding, she said.
The openings created by the separation agreements may save some campus employees from being laid off.
“It’s creating some opportunities for people who might otherwise lose jobs and want to explore new areas,” she said.
President Stanley O. Ikenberry said he does not anticipate any more unpaid furlough days, which faculty members and academic professionals were required to take this spring. The measure was a short-term one, Kaler said.
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