BRYN BECKER & DARYL HOFMANN

The University of Saskatchewan is set to lay off about 40 employees over the next three weeks as part of a campus-wide audit of its workforce meant to axe spending in the face of a growing budget deficit.

The round of job cuts will affect administrative and support positions, with “more job loss expected in phases over the coming months,” said Barb Daigle, associate vice-president of human resources, in an email to the campus community Jan. 14.

The sweeping survey of employees — or “workforce planning,” as it’s called by administrators — is a major part of the university’s long-term plan to combat a projected annual budget deficit expected to reach $44.5 million by 2016.

In March 2012, the university received an annual operating grant from the provincial government that was less than the university had budgeted for. The school expects to receive similar grants in the coming years. The yearly grant accounts for about 68 per cent of total revenue.

The Rumour Mill site makes no attempt to conceal the fact that jobs will be lost, stating that “we will have to stop doing some important and valuable work in order to focus on our priorities.”

The 40 jobs that will be lost will save the university an estimated $2.3 million annually. There are about 7,500 university employees whose salaries and benefits use up roughly 70 per cent of the school’s operating budget.

“While job loss is a normal part of the university’s business, what is unusual now is that our current financial situation requires a new strategic, long-term approach to our overall workforce complement,” Daigle wrote.

“College and administrative leaders are making these difficult decisions strategically, rather than through across-the-board cuts, which are not effective in the long term as they don’t result in a workforce that is focused in the right areas.”

The university will not freeze hiring over the coming years while carrying out firings and implementing cost-saving strategies, but new hires will be “carefully considered and focused in priority areas,” Daigle wrote.

All positions are considered to be on the chopping block.

“Strategic workforce planning that involves leaders in all colleges and units on campus will ensure the right people with the right knowledge, skills and experience are in the right positions to focus on the university’s ambitious goals,” she added.

Transition councillors are available to all laid-off university employees in need of advice and support and employees are given severance packages in accordance with their collective bargaining agreements.

The announcement of the layoffs comes just three days after university President Ilene Busch-Vishniac’s announced the TransformUS initiative, which will examine and prioritize all of the university’s academic and administrative programs. The plan hopes to save $20 to $25 million in permanent spending by cutting programs that are deemed excess or unsustainable.

“Let me be clear from the outset: our primary motivation in introducing this new process is cost-cutting,” the president wrote in an announcement to campus.

“This means that some valuable academic and support programs and administrative services will be lost through this initiative in order to ensure the university as a whole has the resources it needs to thrive and grow.”

Two separate task forces will be assigned to examine and prioritize programs — one that looks at academic programs and another that examines the administrative side. The two working groups will consist primarily of high-ranking faculty members and administrative managers. No students will be included.

“While students will not be included as members of the task forces because of the amount of work entailed and the significant impact this activity would have on their studies, both task forces will be charged with devising appropriate and effective mechanisms for student input and participation in the prioritization process,” Busch-Vishniac wrote.

However, Chris Stoicheff, former U of S students’ union president and current political studies undergraduate, believes that students deserve a place at the table. He suggested that an executive member from the union be included.

“I’m pretty sure that’s what they get paid for,” he said.

In an attempt to assuage concerns stirred up by the workforce planning strategy and TransformUS, a section of the university’s web page called the “Rumour Mill” was recently launched.

The Rumour Mill sports a list of questions curated by the administration to help make sense of their initiatives. Worried members of the campus community can also submit their own questions or rumours for a response from the university.

The Rumour Mill site makes no attempt to conceal the fact that jobs will be lost, stating that “we will have to stop doing some important and valuable work in order to focus on our priorities.”

Five administrative support staffers from the Humanities and Fine Arts division of the College of Arts and Science were laid off in late November 2012 to cut spending and streamline services, saving approximately $250,000 annually.

The Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus was shut down in November after university administrators said the university could no longer afford to keep the doors open. The site was used for fine arts and biology students and is expected to save the university $3 million.

[toggle title_open=”Close” title_closed=”Update on the Workforce Planning Project (AVP Daigle)” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”][/toggle] [hr]

The university administration has released two more emails in an attempt to clarify their actions regarding the budget situation. Copies of these letters are embedded below. Click to expand.

[toggle title_open=”Close” title_closed=”Update on Operational Budget Adjustments (VP Fairbairn & VP Fowler)” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”][/toggle] [toggle title_open=”Close” title_closed=”Update on the general financial situation (President Busch-Vishniac)” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”][/toggle] [hr] [box type=”info” icon=”none”]

• “Tuition increases have not and will not be used to deal with operating deficits.”
• “The university is not considering ‘across-the-board’ cuts.”
• Workforce Planning “includes all positions at all levels of the university.”
• “Our goal is not to do more with less, but to become more focused on the priorities we have determined together in our Third Integrated Plan. Our expectation is that the University of Saskatchewan will become an institution that does fewer things and does them more simply.”
• “Decisions will happen over the course of the next four years, with some areas ready to make changes sooner than others.”
• “While it is true that there are many programs that are provided through both the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina, the criteria for deletion of programs would be discussed openly with the University Council.”
• “Based on an annual two per cent increase to our provincial operating grant, we expect a gap between our expenses and revenues totaling $44.5 million per year by 2016. Simply put, our operating expenses are growing at a higher rate than our operating revenues.”
• “It is a misconception that growth in administrative positions has only occurred in the central university; rather, a recent study tabled in university council demonstrates that administrative growth has also occurred to a significant level in the colleges and schools.”

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf
Graphics: Samantha Braun/The Sheaf