Staff find new beginnings after layoffs

When photographer Bernie Staggers arrived at work in March 2009, he was not expecting the news he was about to receive. In 90 days, his job as a photographer would be eliminated.

“When I was notified, a combined sense of disbelief, sadness and anger overtook me, at the same time leaving me feeling quite numb and shocked,” says Staggers.

In addition to the flood of emotions, Staggers had to grapple with difficult life-changing questions: How would he manage the responsibilities of paying bills? How would he compete in today’s highly competitive and shrinking job market?

“It’s a wake-up call when you end up in this position,” states Staggers. “Once you get past the feelings and emotions and reality sets in, there’s work to be done. Things are not going to come to you if you don’t go get them.”

It was through constant work that he persevered. A steadfast commitment to brushing up on interviewing skills, résumé writing, and networking ultimately paid off in the form of a temporary assignment in the Interim Employment Pool (IEP) at Building Operations Shared Services, where he had worked many years before. Eventually this led to a full-time position.

But the constant work and commitment was not just that of Staggers — behind him stood an entire team.

It takes a team

For Clerical and Technical (C&T) and Managerial and Professional (M&P) employees facing layoffs, there are people who spend hours dedicated to understanding their circumstances and needs while trying to find placements for them at Yale. Their collective efforts have resulted in the successful rehiring of 162 layoff staff back into the University’s workforce since the start of the budget cuts 18 months ago.

Whether a position was eliminated for fiscal reductions or because a grant had ended, the consideration shown to each staff member has been significant and unprecedented. Composed of members from the Departments of Staffing and Employee Relations and from Local 34, the Job Search Team has met weekly since 1992. However, in the past 18 months, the group has focused heavily on reviewing all open C&T positions to identify appropriate placements for layoff employees.

The Internal Placement Team in the Staffing Department at Human Resources (HR) is dedicated to supporting layoff staff by running workshops designed to increase the competitiveness of employees in the job market by providing tips on interviewing, résumé writing and networking.

“I commented to my family ‘I got a team working on finding me a job,’” says Sam Jungeblut, who was rehired into a position as an office assistant in the Department of Surgery Transplant, which resulted from an IEP assignment in February. His previous position in Sterling Memorial Library ended in July 2009 as a fixed duration position.

“I wasn’t surprised when the layoff happened,” he says, “but was grateful that there were so many resources available. I was in touch with Moira Healey, Raina McConnell Grant or Connie Gaynor [ of the Job Search and Internal Placement Teams] at least once a week. Raina critiqued my cover letters and reviewed my résumé. I attended a job fair for layoffs, did mock interviews, and was able to learn Excel, Access, Dreamweaver and Acrobat.”

M&P staff members displaced by budget cuts have their own staunch ally in Sandra Greer, senior staffing and career development specialist. She works with these employees to coordinate networking groups, facilitate interviews, investigate new job opportunities at Yale and advocate their interests whenever possible. Like the Job Search Team, Greer spends hours getting to know the staff members and their qualifications, and making recommendations and referrals to University jobs, in many cases before the jobs are posted on STARS.

“So often on the first interview with employees who have just been laid off, many feel overwhelmed and anxious. With so much on their minds, it’s hard to focus on a job search,” says Greer. “The best thing I can do for them is to answer as many questions and concerns as they have and let them know I am here for them. I e-mail them notices of jobs that meet their qualifications, and help get their applications through as quickly as possible. It encourages constant communication, keeps us engaged and gives this process a chance to work.”

“It has taken a lot of teamwork. People from Staffing, HR generalists, the Union, and managers — we’ve been able to work as a team and help our employees make it through these difficult past 18 months,” says Chris Pedevillano, deputy director of employee relations and staffing.

Responding to the need

While the endowment recently increased by 8.9%, many departments are still managing through the budgetary fallout precipitated by the past two years. Many cancelled open, unfilled job postings; some did not renew fixed duration and grant-funded positions. And for those with no other alternatives, the more difficult decisions and conversations revolved around cutting current staff positions as last resort efforts.

“Following the steep decline in the value of our endowment that resulted from the effects of the global economic crisis, Yale’s budget challenges were large and complex,” notes Mike Peel, vice president for human resources and administration. “At every step of the process, we attempted to minimize the impact of the necessary budget reductions on our staff, utilizing attrition, voluntary separation programs and other tools. Where involuntary layoffs could not ultimately be avoided, we have worked hard to give hiring preference to those displaced from their positions when new University openings occurred. These efforts have allowed us to retain talented staff members we otherwise would have lost to other organizations, while providing high-quality support to our colleagues affected by restructuring actions.”

Several precautions were taken early on, resulting from the negotiations of the labor-management settlement reached in April 2009. Both the University and UNITE HERE (Locals 34 and 35) worked diligently to agree upon terms concerning layoff support and job security. One of the supplemental agreements with Local 34 was a metric for the rehiring of layoff C&T staff. The provision specified that by March 31 of this year, the University would rehire two-thirds of the employees who were laid off or notified of layoff by Sept. 30, 2009.

Through the collective efforts of all involved, this metric was successfully met and exceeded. In May, a reception was held to honor the work that enabled this success, at which Staggers was a guest speaker.

Other negotiated practices that were instituted included adding a seven-day pre-post period for the teams to review upcoming jobs for bargaining unit layoff staff; adding a 14-day posting period exclusively for all layoff and internal staff; and creating a 90-day trial period for departments willing to interview and hire layoff staff. Human Resources offered to pay the salary and benefits for this duration if the hiring manager determined the candidate didn’t quite fit in the position or vice versa.

“We wanted to create hiring priorities for layoffs and promote the internal hiring of our staff in real concrete ways. The supplementary support for layoff staff agreement was a signal that the University and Union are truly committed to the cause,” says Ken Suzuki, secretary-treasurer of Local 34. “We agreed to do things that we have never done before.”

Suzuki credits these actions for helping the share of internal hiring for all open C&T positions increase from 25% to 42% during these past 18 months.

For M&P staff on layoff status, the Yale Career Center (www.yale.edu/careercenter) links them to training and networking sessions, job search materials and contact information. Located on the first floor of 221 Whitney Ave., the Career Center offers employees access to computers, information and assistance on the application process. It was through these training sessions at the center that an informal networking group formed.

“This group gets together to share valuable information regarding their searches, experiences, grapevine information and offer tremendous support to each other,” says Greer. “We now meet every two weeks. It is important that individuals who go through particularly difficult times have support; this group shows their support for each other in spades. It’s very positive, very electric.”

Earlier this year, the University offered an incentive that removed a maximum cap (52 weeks) on available salary continuation for those M&Ps with 27 or more years of service and continued the enhanced salary continuation for all M&P layoffs. In total, 150 staff members took advantage of the incentive, which was permitted only if there was a fiscal saving for the department.

“For many staff, the layoff may have come at a time in their lives that made sense to leave the University,” notes Greer. “My favorite example is a good friend of mine who wanted to spend some significant time writing a Chinese cookbook. Others saw it as a chance to take a well-deserved sabbatical and re-think their futures. For those with many years of service, this was a very good deal.”

Rehired and back to work

In the end, some transitions actually worked out for the better.

Though Staggers reconnected with former colleagues in the Building Operations Shared Services group and is now working full-time in the position, he ultimately wanted to return to his work as a photographer.

“When I took this job last January, they told me ‘If you take this job, we’d greatly appreciate it. We know you don’t want to do this for the rest of your life and want to go back to being a photographer. If you find a job that fits, we’ll support you with a good recommendation,’” Staggers recalled. “I was grateful for this because I wasn’t sure there would be another open photography job, but I figured I’d bide my time until one got posted.”

As luck would have it, one did.

Staggers is scheduled to start at the end of October as a photographer at the Yale Center for British Art, cataloging and digitizing artwork as their sole photographer on the project.

To others on layoff status, Staggers offers this advice: “Don’t give up hope. You get out of it what you put into it. If you’re going to do nothing but ask ‘Why me, poor me?’ nothing will happen. … In looking back, I’m grateful. We all deserve a chance; the opportunities are here. There are a lot of good people here working to make it happen.”