This Week @ UCSD
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
divider
Top Stories Print this story Print Forward to a Friend Forward

Staff Advisors to UC Regents Provide Inside Look
at UC Budget and Retirement Crises at Staff Forum

Ioana Patringenaru | Jan. 24, 2011

Staff Advisors Juliann Martinez and Penny Herbert talk with Alonso Noble, center, chair of the UCSD Staff Association, and Earline Ventura, a staff member in Human Resources.
Photos/David Wargo

Related links:
Staff Advisors to the Regents website

Have a comment for the Staff Advisors? Click here.

UC Releases First Accountability Report on Staff Employees

Budget cuts, retirement benefits, recruitment and retention were the focus of a public forum held by Staff Advisors to the UC Regents Thursday at the Student Services Center. The discussion featured a presentation by the two staff advisors to the UC Regents, as well as a question and answer session.

“Dialogue is useful for all of us,” said Alonso Noble, chair of the UCSD Staff Association, which was in charge of setting up the event.

The two staff advisors, Juliann Martinez, director of Gift Management at UC Berkeley, and Penny Herbert, manager of Clinical Operation at UC Davis, were on campus to attend a UC Board of Regents meeting held here last week. They encouraged staff members to get involved and give their input on the issues facing the UC system.

“The people who are doing the work know what the problems are and what the solutions are,” said Martinez.

Budget cuts

Budget cuts, and more specifically Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to cut UC’s budget by $500 million, were front and center at last week’s regents meeting. The discussion was not a happy one, Martinez said. “They understand we’ve probably reached bone at this point,” she said.

The regents probably won’t seek new tuition increases to make up for the gap, Martinez also said. UC President Mark Yudof said he doesn’t plan to implement furloughs, though that doesn’t mean the regents won’t consider them, she added. Instead of a systemwide strategy for cuts, chancellors will have an opportunity to draft plans for each campus, Martinez said. They have six weeks to submit their proposals to the Office of the President. Regents are set to discuss the plans at their mid-March meeting in San Francisco. Officials also are seriously considering a UC-wide integrated payroll system to save funds, Martinez said.

Juliann Martinez, one of the staff advisors, speaks at UCSD.

Martinez said she already experienced some of this on her own campus, at UC Berkeley. Berkeley officials recently announced results for a first phase of an administrative restructuring effort, which led to the elimination of about 280 full-time positions, saving about $20 million. The goal is to save $75 million a year. Nearly 150 staff members were laid off. The rest of the positions were either vacancies, retirements or resignations, according to a Berkeley news release.

With cuts coming to all campuses, Martinez urged staff members to become part of the budget discussion. “I’d rather be involved knowing full well it could change my job than having someone else change my job for me,” she said.

Herbert, the staff advisor from UC Davis, encouraged staff members to let the staff advisors know about their struggles and the cuts’ impacts on their daily lives. “Story telling is very powerful,” she said. 

She also urged staff members to contact their elected state representatives and advocate on behalf of UC and against the budget cuts. “We need our voices to be heard in Sacramento,” she said.

Retirement

Meanwhile, the staff advisors are still monitoring changes to the UC retirement system that regents approved at their December meeting. The board approved a new tier of retirement benefits for employees hired starting in July 2013. The new plan raises the minimum retirement age from 50 to 56; and makes employees eligible for the maximum pension benefit at age 65 after 20 years of service, documents show. It also sets employee contributions at 6.1 percent of their salary. “It was the best we could do, given the circumstances,” Martinez said. Staff advisors want to make sure the plan’s implementation goes well and is true to what was agreed upon, she also said.

Talent management

One bright spot in the middle of this crisis is the recent release of an accountability staff report, Martinez said. “It’s a good story, and I encourage you to look at it,” she said.

Staff at UC are critical to the university’s success, but unless officials proactively address issues of an aging work force, compensation and leadership development, the quality and service of employees could suffer in the coming years and UC may find itself unprepared to face the challenges ahead, according to a UC news release about the report.

Penny Herbert encourages staff to give their input on the issues the UC system faces.

To ensure that UC continues to have the talent it needs, Dwaine B. Duckett, UC’s vice president of human resources, is advising UC's leadership to undertake several initiatives, including a long-term salary program tied to performance and programs that provide staff with comprehensive career and leadership development opportunities.

“We want UC to be the employer of choice,” Martinez said. “It won’t be easy, but I think it can happen.”

The issue is all the more pressing that about 30 percent of UC’s workforce is currently eligible for retirement, Martinez said. About 11,000 UC employees are now in what human resources calls 'the red zone’—those with 20 or more years of UC service and near that age when most people are likely to retire.

After the meeting, Earline Ventura, a human resources analyst in the Senior Vice Chancellor’s office, said she found the discussion very helpful. “I truly believe more knowledge is power,” she said. The staff advisors offer a way for employees to feel connected, she added.

“It’s wonderful to hear that our voices are heard,” she said.

Want to keep up with what is happening at UC San Diego?
Subscribe to This Week @ UCSD. It's free!




 
spacer
Subscribe Contact Us Got News UCSD News
spacer

UCSD University Communications

9500 Gilman Drive MC0938
La Jolla, CA 92093-0938
858-534-3120

Email: thisweek@ucsd.edu