NEW ANALYSIS: Outsourcing leaves staff's future unclear

The Trammell Crow Company's upcoming management takeover of all University-owned buildings has been hailed as a landmark agreement that could spur a trend within higher education. But the deal -- announced last week -- has evoked fear among the 175 employees who face uncertain employment futures, as well as wider concern about the administration's tight-lipped negotiation of the arrangement. If the University's Board of Trustees approves the measure at its November 7 meeting, officials from Dallas-based Trammell Crow will assume management of approximately 10 million square feet of Penn buildings as of March 18. Between now and then, employees in facilities management divisions must re-interview for their positions, and about 70 percent will be re-hired by Trammell Crow, according to Executive Vice President John Fry. The arrangement between the University and the nation's largest real-estate management business has garnered national media attention as a deal with the potential to revolutionize facilities management across higher education. An article in the Wall Street Journal this week suggests that other universities may strike similar deals, with higher education providing an exceptionally lucrative market for outside firms to assume management. Penn is the first university to forge such a comprehensive deal with a real estate company, Fry said in the article. Fry emphasized that the real "landmark" nature of the agreement is in the improved facilities services and lower costs that will result, even with minimal personnel changes. Yet as officials continue to re-assure shocked and angry employees about their favorable prospects of being re-hired by Trammell Crow, uncertainty and fear continue. Many unanswered questions remain, including descriptions of the jobs employees will be applying for, and exactly which departments are included. These details will be worked out in the next few weeks, officials said. Employees voiced their concerns in meetings with administrators last week and at University Council Wednesday. "Why was this kept so secret?" A-3 Assembly Chairperson Donna Arthur asked at Council, adding that the University is "shutting people out of basic decisions that affect their lives." And Residential Services employee Kevin Karg said yesterday he understands that University officials' wish to "focus on their core business" -- but that the secrecy was unfair to many long-term employees. With a final report on dining facilities due from the Cornyn Fasano consulting group this semester, some employees have raised concerns that officials might handle a potential dining outsourcing deal in a similarly closed manner. Fry said Trammell Crow would not take over Dining Services management because the company "doesn't manage dining services," but he would not comment about plans to outsource dining. When discussions began with Trammell Crow last August, a "small working group" of senior University managers worked on the decision, Fry said. Facilities managers were not involved in the process because "this is a very difficult thing to be objective about," Fry said, adding that upper-level facilities managers will now play a large role in the transition process. And now faculty and staff will be able to offer input on the deal, because "Once we had the basic parameters, we felt free to let people comment on it," Fry said.