EDITORIAL: Cutting benefits for little savings

The University's proposed plan outlines unnecessary cuts to employees' benefits package. The revamped package does offer a wide range of health care options to employees. It also allows newly hired staff to take paid days off after only being employed by Penn for 120 days. Administrators revising the package said they wanted to create a competitive and efficient plan while saving the University money. But it is unknown if these changes will save Penn substantial amounts of money. Was it worth cutting employee benefits for small savings? We think not. It's not entirely accurate to compare the University's benefits plan to corporations in Philadelphia. As a higher education institution, we are able to provide unique benefits in tuition remission for our employees, their spouses and dependents. We should not be taking away educational opportunities. Currently, the proposal takes away all graduate tuition benefits for spouses and dependents of employees. The new plan also proposes the elimination of summer work hours. It is unnecessary to have student services offices open all the time during the summer simply because the majority of us are not here. We don't think that keeping offices open for regular hours is going to save money. After lobbying four years for better benefits, part-time employees got the short end of the stick in the proposal. While these people may not work 40 hours a week, they still provide valuable services for the University. It is unfortunate administrators did not recognize that when reviewing the benefits plan. As a result of the cuts, morale will probably fall as employees see their benefits decreasing. Though the University should probably not be paying for 92 percent of health care benefits, employees who are used to paying minimal fees for health insurance are not going to be happy with an increased fee. Administrators should seriously consider the comments they may receive this week, because the current recommendations seem to be needless if they aren't going to save the University money.