Ohio University’s buyout and early retirement program has so far attracted 74 fewer employees than desired as the June 30 deadline looms.
Administrators hope that 22 percent, or about 263, of the 1,197 eligible employees will accept a buyout or early retirement plan before the deadline. So far, 189 employees — including 80 faculty members, 76 staff members and 33 administrators — have chosen to participate in the program.
“I don’t think anyone will look at it as a huge setback or that it will cause any financial issues if we don’t meet that number,” said Greg Fialko, OU’s senior human resources director.
The program allows eligible employees to accept an incentivized plan to leave the university early, and OU expects to replace about 60 percent of those who leave. The deadline for staff to accept a buyout or early retirement plan is April 30, and the deadline for faculty is June 30.
“Typically when you have somebody who is eligible for this plan, they have been at the university for a long period of time, and their salaries tend to be higher as a result of that,” said Ann Fidler, chief of staff to OU Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit.
The plans contain different options for each group of faculty members, including incentives such as cash bonuses, a one-year service credit and payouts for sick leave and vacation time.
The buyouts would save OU about $13 million annually if 22 percent of eligible employees participate, according to a report presented to OU’s Board of Trustees in February. The program comes with a one-time cost of $15 million if OU meets its target participation rate.
OU cut $9.6 million from its budget this fiscal year because of reduced state funding and rising health care and utility costs.
“I think we’ve been able to maintain (academic) quality … and as we go forward, we certainly plan to replace some of the faculty who have been lost,” said OU President Roderick McDavis.
Employees who have accepted a buyout or early retirement plan this year will continue to work until June 30. The university has “no information to suggest that class sizes have increased as a result” of the buyout and early retirement incentives, Fidler said in an email.
The student-to-faculty ratio for Fall 2010 was 19 to 1, but OU does not yet have the ratio for this year.
OU has not offered a faculty buyout for 25 or 30 years, but the university has presented early retirement incentives to staff members and administrators three times since 2003, said Linda Lonsinger, OU’s chief human resources officer, in previous interviews.
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