Outsourcing may compel workers to wear new hats

If Trustees approve the deal, employees will apply for new jobs with different descriptions. If University Trustees approve the proposed Trammell Crow Co. outsourcing deal later this week, many of the 180 employees affected by the agreement will have to apply for positions with different job descriptions, according to documents given to employees yesterday. The six charts and 33 one-page job descriptions indicate that Trammell Crow would reorganize the responsibilities among the top positions and create a common division to handle the finances of both the University's Facilities Management division and its for-profit real-estate arm, University City Associates. The two divisions currently have separate operations. A note in the lower right-hand corner of each chart indicates that it "represents only the types of positions available. The actual number of positions has not been determined." Officials have estimated that Trammell Crow will hire between 110 and 150 former University employees. Under a 10-year agreement signed October 8, the Dallas-based real-estate firm will take over management of Penn buildings beginning March 1. Trammell Crow will conduct on-campus interviews from November 10 to November 24. Executive Vice President John Fry couldn't be reached for comment yesterday, and Trammell Crow officials also weren't available for comment. Under the current setup, Vice President for Facilities Management Art Gravina oversees the departments of Facilities Planning, Project Management and Physical Plant, reporting directly to Fry. The Project Management and Facilities Planning departments handle present and future construction projects, according to descriptions on the Facilities Management World Wide Web site. Physical Plant oversees operations and maintenance. Trammell Crow Higher Education Services Inc.'s Penn account, on the other hand, would be headed by two "alliance directors" in charge of overseeing "campus properties" and "UCA properties." The campus properties director would supervise directors in three areas: facilities services for schools, residential and resource centers; construction and development management services; and maintenance services. It was unclear yesterday how the recently created Housing and Residence Life division would be organized after Trammell Crow takes over residential maintenance duties, because only a minority of its employees are involved with the outsourced maintenance operations. Several University employees affected by the deal said last night they haven't yet had time to review the information from Trammell Crow.

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