Employee decrease helps college add to amount in general operating fund
Maria Schmitt
Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: News
At the end of the 2008-09 school year, Hillsdale College will have lost 10 staff positions due to retirements and departures. These positions will not be refilled.
The losses will bring the college's full-time employee count down to 424, a number similar to the 2007-2008 school year. In 2003-2004, the school only employed 400 full-time positions, Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said in an e-mail to The Collegian.
When a staff member leaves the college, the department follows a routine process to determine what should happen to the staffer's position, said Jill Pulley, personnel services director.
"We try to determine where we are and where we need to be," Pulley said.
With each departure, the department head analyzes his department to determine whether the position needs to be filled, either with an employee from another part of campus or an outside hire, or if the work can be absorbed by remaining staffers or student workers.
Determining the number of full-time employees also depends on keeping a faculty- and staff-to-student ratio that is similar to other liberal arts colleges and fits with Hillsdale's goals, Pulley said.
Pulley said department heads often decide to work with fewer employees and simply shift responsibility within the department in order to cover work done by the lost employee.
Often, departments hire student workers to help absorb responsibility.
Péwé said spreading out workloads and hiring student workers as solutions to lost employees is an especially valuable option due to the current economic situation.
"The economic market matters to us," he said. "We're being very conservative. If a position becomes available because of retirement, we might hold off until the future before hiring."
The college looks at each situation on an individual basis, Péwé said.
The college would not move employees from position to position or hire student workers without studying the specific case, he said.
The losses will bring the college's full-time employee count down to 424, a number similar to the 2007-2008 school year. In 2003-2004, the school only employed 400 full-time positions, Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said in an e-mail to The Collegian.
When a staff member leaves the college, the department follows a routine process to determine what should happen to the staffer's position, said Jill Pulley, personnel services director.
"We try to determine where we are and where we need to be," Pulley said.
With each departure, the department head analyzes his department to determine whether the position needs to be filled, either with an employee from another part of campus or an outside hire, or if the work can be absorbed by remaining staffers or student workers.
Determining the number of full-time employees also depends on keeping a faculty- and staff-to-student ratio that is similar to other liberal arts colleges and fits with Hillsdale's goals, Pulley said.
Pulley said department heads often decide to work with fewer employees and simply shift responsibility within the department in order to cover work done by the lost employee.
Often, departments hire student workers to help absorb responsibility.
Péwé said spreading out workloads and hiring student workers as solutions to lost employees is an especially valuable option due to the current economic situation.
"The economic market matters to us," he said. "We're being very conservative. If a position becomes available because of retirement, we might hold off until the future before hiring."
The college looks at each situation on an individual basis, Péwé said.
The college would not move employees from position to position or hire student workers without studying the specific case, he said.
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