Restructuring may cut too close to bone

While the program has cut costs, employees questioned its merits. New York, N.Y. University officials have made restructuring the central administration -- paring $50 million from the budget over the next five years -- a major priority. When the program began in 1995, its main goal was cutting costs and increased administrative efficiency. A year and a half later, attention is also being focused on saving money in order to fund capital projects and, according to some, to lower the rate of tuition increases. At the same time, the program has resulted in approximately 200 job losses, leaving some workers questioning whether the benefits justify the costs, and others asking if the program even offers any benefits. From an employee standpoint, restructuring has caused overload and a sense of job insecurity, which may counteract the increased efficiency that restructuring plans sought. Administrators have also never considered the program to be easy to implement -- Executive Vice President John Fry called it "a bad situation" in 1995. But while most administrators maintain that the program is necessary, many of the workers who could be affected disagree. Librarian Jim Gray -- who serves as tri-chair of the African American Association of Faculty and Staff and as vice president of Local 590 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- said restructuring not only demoralizes workers, but also "makes them mad as hell." "Restructuring is tremendously bad for the morale of the workers here on campus," Gray said. "Every year there is some kind of layoff process under whatever is the current industrial fad name. The process has left people with this insecurity which is unfair, especially for career employees who have already given a life of service to the University." For some workers, restructuring has taken on a racial dimension. Tom Henry, another tri-chair of the AAA, said job cuts affect a disproportionately large number of African American employees. This, combined with the fact that his group has not been asked to participate in any discussions on restructuring, has caused African American employees to feel they are under-respected and undervalued. But workers' criticisms of the restructuring process go deeper than fears of job losses. The layoffs have burdened remaining employees with more responsibilities -- an unintended consequence of the drive for efficiency. Fry said last year that layoffs would aim to eliminate work that doesn't add value to the system, but workers complain that they are still performing such "unnecessary" jobs -- in addition to the duties they already had to handle. Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said the 15 jobs cut from the VPUL have forced her staff members to work overtime and take less vacation, while purchasing agent Thomas Leary said he is "having a difficult time keeping pace" after job cuts in his department. But Purchasing Director Robert Michel said workers in his department -- which lost more than half its employees in the past year -- are not unhappy or any busier than in previous years. University President Judith Rodin acknowledged that restructuring causes some insecurity problems among workers, explaining that the University aims to expedite the process in order to ease the difficulties. "Our goal is to have the most well-qualified and well-trained and well-motivated people," she said. "When there is uncertainty and times have changed, it is hard to do that, so we are trying to get through this period of uncertainty as quickly as possible." But could the feelings of insecurity and overload associated with the process impact the University further down the road? Rodin said she does not think such effects will last, adding that increasedworkloads are temporary and will level off as workers get used to the new systems and technology added as part of the restructuring program. "Always in the early stages of process reengineering, as people are getting retrained, people do feel overloaded," she said. "We are doing a lot of training and, when that works, people will not feel overloaded." But restructuring is not over yet, and while employees adjust to the first stages, there could be future shocks to come. The degree of impact of future job cuts, which could be relatively minor or more significant than in the first stages, depends on decisions regarding departmental outsourcing and major overhauls. Fry explained that while downsizing is not the focus of restructuring, he will consider outsourcing certain departments if a private company can provide cheaper services and better quality. Officials have instructed the consulting firms studying both dining and residential life to consider all possibilities for those functions, including outsourcing them. Fry said the University has an obligation to ensure that students get the most for their tuition dollars. "We will continue to [consider outsourcing], not because we are going to outsource everything, but because we believe that unless we ask that question, we are clearly not doing to the students and faculty a service," he said. But outgoing Vice President for Finance Steve Golding emphasized that the University prefers to cut costs in areas where workers are not affected. Nonetheless, Golding conceded that the University must have a smaller workforce if it is to lower tuition, which has been a priority of students, parents and Trustees. While administrators list lower tuition increases and better services as the benefits of restructuring, Gray said the benefits of the plan are unclear and certainly do not apply to University workers. And Henry said the claim that restructuring will lower tuition is merely a way of playing student concerns against those of workers, adding that salaries aren't high enough to impact tuition significantly. Administrators said they are aware that employees feel insecure and even resentful, but they insist these changes are both necessary and beneficial to the University. "Obviously, when there is uncertainty it affects people," Rodin said. "The answer is not not to change, but to do it fairly, openly and as quickly as possible."

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