The University of New Mexico’s hiring moratorium has been ongoing since Sept. 2016 and has resulted in an elimination of vacant positions — causing concern for some departments.
“Campus-wide, we have eliminated approximately 120 vacant positions since November 2016 through the hiring moratorium and vacant position review process,” said Kevin Stevenson, director of University HR business services.
Feedback on the process addressed concerns from UNM departments and employees, who are continually being asked to take on more job responsibilities using fewer resources, impacting the University’s current employees, Stevenson said.
The concerns have not been ignored — as a result of this feedback, Interim President Chaouki Abdallah initiated the development of a new policy to allow departments to give their current employees pay increases when they are required to take on the job duties of a vacant position has been eliminated, Stevenson said.
“This is almost finalized,” he said. “We see it as a great way of rewarding our current employees who are stepping up and taking on extra responsibilities to continue supporting our missions of education, research and service...This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff across campus.”
The freeze has impacted departments across the board, both those in the administration and in academic affairs.
“Depending on the circumstance and specific employees who are leaving, there have been departments that have been reorganized in a way that allows the elimination of vacant positions and to provide service and support in an effective and efficient manner,” Stevenson said.
UNM is still approving exceptions from the hiring moratorium for critical positions, which has lessened some of the impact on departments, he said.
“Considering the dramatic fiscal challenges UNM has faced over the past year, the hiring moratorium, overall, has been an effective and proactive approach to meeting our budget reduction requirements,” Stevenson said.
Despite the dramatic fiscal challenges, the hiring moratorium has affected staff across UNM in different positions and departments who are feeling overwhelmed with competing demands, said Staff Council President Danelle Callan.
“For years, we have been dealing with budget cuts from the state and stagnant tuition rates which translates into lower departmental budgets and less staff,” Callan said. “Our staff have made tremendous strides in doing more with less to continue the quality of services we provide to students and faculty but the sustainability of these efforts long term is not feasible.”
If UNM is to continue being a flagship educational institution in New Mexico providing outstanding services to an increasing student population, jobs need to be created, she said. There must also be a rehire for open positions to ensure faculty and students have the support they need to be successful.
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“While the Regents did approve part of a tuition increase proposal from the president, the ‘splitting of the difference’ means UNM has to come up with the money from somewhere to make up the deficit,” Callan said.
This includes limiting hiring for vacant staff and faculty positions is the easiest way to make up a shortfall in the short run but has long term implications in faculty and staff recruitment, staff retention and the amount of services UNM can offer, she said.
There is a concern among staff that as staff and faculty retire, the University is “unable to replace the institutional knowledge that goes with them,” Callan said. “We are already facing hiring concerns related to the length of time and number of reviews it takes to get a position approved and posted but we are also facing a lack of qualified applicants applying once they are available.”
Departments are facing barriers due to the hiring freeze, including getting hiring proposals through the internal review processes, additional paperwork and longer completion times throughout the hiring process.
This process used to take, on average, two to three months to get a position posted and filled within the UNM system, but Callan has heard stories from staff saying the process can take double and candidate pools are not what they have been in the past, she said.
“UNM has been working hard to ‘do more with less’ but we have reached a tipping point where we’re going to have to ‘do less with less,’” Callan said.
The University has tried to increase efficiency by investing in technology, creating centralized service centers and reviewing redundancies in positions that become vacant to see if they can be reclassified.
“With all these efforts, we still need faculty to teach our classes and staff to provide the support services that keep UNM functioning on a day-to-day basis,” she said.
General staff concerns address how long staff can continue to provide the services that make UNM special without a large enough budget to pay for their efforts.
“UNM leadership is trying hard to be transparent with the budget limitations and the impact that has on personnel,” Callan said.
The limitations and impact vary from Main Campus to HSC, she said, due to the difference in revenue.
“No one is happy with a hiring freeze, because this has been going on for years and whatever efficiencies that could have been made to save money have been done,” Callan said.
UNM is working on improving budget planning though the budget leadership team and subcommittees to evaluate our long term budget strategic plan, she said.
“This should help us better plan what our costs and revenues will be over the next ten years to help the institution better anticipate what things will look like on a year to year basis,” she said. “Overall, UNM needs to look at tuition costs and identify the best way to make small incremental increases that will allow students to adjust for and anticipate costs over time.”
Doing so will help UNM anticipate revenues to help pay for the staffing we need to provide our students with the services they require, Callan said.
“UNM staff have a deep passion for the success of our students, faculty and community,” she said. “We stay at UNM with the budget shortfalls and lack of cost of living increases, because we love what we do. Coming to work every day inspires the research, education, discoveries and student achievement that will impact our state’s economic development for years to come.”
Nichole Harwood is a news and culture beat reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Nolidoli1.
