Cornell's Workforce Planning Team, established in November by President Hunter Rawlings to streamline administrative functions and identify cost savings across campus, has initiated reviews in two new areas: financial transaction processing and alumni affairs and development.
"The initial review, in the area of human resources, is well under way, and we're ready now to move the process forward in these new areas," said Carolyn Ainslie, vice president for budget and planning. Ainslie, who chairs the university's workforce planning committee, said future reviews will include student services, information technology and facilities.
The workforce planning project was initiated in conjunction with an interim hiring freeze, in effect at least until June 30 of this year, and is part of an effort to focus more resources on the core mission of the university. The national and statewide economic downturns also have had an impact on Cornell and made such planning and restructuring efforts all the more prudent, Ainslie said.
At the same time, data shows that university nonacademic staffing campuswide -- both centrally and in departments and units -- is at a nine-year high in eight of the 12 job functions tracked and at a 30-year high overall, Ainslie said. Prior to 1993-94, positions were not classified by job function, so the data are not comparable. Job functions at a nine-year high include academic support, communication, facilities and related areas, finance, human resources, computing and other technology support, library/museum and student services and related areas. (For specific data, see charts below.)
"We are most concerned about the upward trend since 1996-97," Ainslie said.
In January the team established three objectives for the workforce planning effort:
The Workforce Planning Team includes Walter Cohen, vice provost; Susan Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Philip Lewis, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Inge Reichenbach, vice president for alumni affairs and development; Robert Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management; and Paul Streeter, senior project director. The team reports to Rawlings, Provost Biddy Martin and Harold Craft, vice president for administration and chief financial officer.
"It is often said that major change is impossible unless the leaders of the organization are active supporters," Swieringa said. "President Rawlings, Provost Martin and Vice President Craft are working with the team and others to develop a shared commitment to significant change and a shared assessment of the university's challenges and opportunities."
A separate team has been established to lead each review. Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources, is leading that review. Reichenbach will lead the review of alumni affairs and development, while Joanne DeStefano, vice president for financial affairs and university controller, will lead the review of financial processing.
Opperman's team is developing three scenarios for improved organizational structure and cost savings. At the end of March, the scenarios will be presented to the Workforce Planning Team, which will recommend one to the oversight group. That group will have the final decision on what actions are to be taken. Human resources then will have a year to implement the plan.
DeStefano is in the process of forming her review team. Like the human resources review already under way, the team will develop planning scenarios that would enable a reduction of resources committed to managing daily financial activities, such as purchasing of goods and services, receipt of funds and accounting campuswide. The planning scenarios will focus on work definition, organization structure and position responsibilities.
"It is always prudent to review our costs versus our revenues streams," DeStefano said. "And, having been through this sort of process a number of times in the 1980s while working for Kaiser Aluminum, I have a comfort level with it. It allows us to evaluate our practices and reconsider their value: We may eliminate some, consolidate others and clearly improve some."
Reichenbach said the review of alumni affairs and development will be conducted in a different format than the other two because of its goals: to review its baseline resources and to explore the staffing needs for a potential universitywide campaign. Reichenbach will lead a self-study process, and benchmarking data will be gathered to assist with evaluating performance and return on investment at the university and unit level.
Preliminary finance recommendations are due mid-May and the self-study component of the alumni affairs and development review is due at the end of April.
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