Editorial: Careful with restructuring

Officials should think twice before slashing staffs, and increasing work burdens, in order to cut costs. Many of the fired workers were office employees, according to financial year 1997 budget figures. And as anyone who's worked in an office knows, overburdened employees don't exactly do a better job than those with a proper workload. The University's restructuring program has severely cut staffs in some departments, in some cases eliminating more than half of a department's employees. For example, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported last March that 12 of 22 employees in the Acquisition Services Department (formerly Purchasing) were let go. One worker said he's "having a difficult time keeping pace now." (Five of the fired employees took jobs elsewhere in the University, said Bob Michel, the department's director.) Also, the Office of the Comptroller saw 10 staff members leave in the year ended June 30. Savings from the job cuts totaled $300,000, indicating that the fired employees averaged about $30,000 in salary. The office has about 30 employees, according to the 1996-97 faculty and staff directory, meaning that approximately one-third of the Comptroller staff is gone. Even Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum admits that cuts in her department have made the uncut employees work more overtime hours and take less time off. And what about Human Resources? That department "dramatically" expanded its workload while cutting eight jobs, about one-eighth of its staff according to the directory. Aren't you supposed to hire more people when you increase a department's workload? The University undoubtedly needs to save money in order to keep the growth of tuition and fees steady, not exponential. But the sheer size of some of these job cuts, along with the added work some employees are getting, indicates that administrators might be overzealous in the elimination of so many employees. Let's see fewer unkind cuts.