Staff Decide On Early Buyouts

When staff worker Richard E. Kaufman learned in February that he would be eligible for the early retirement incentive package, he knew that it would be too early for him to leave­—especially for the financial instability that awaited him outside of Harvard.

But with the 45-day period for accepting or rejecting the package drawing to a close on Monday, many staff workers in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences said in interviews with The Crimson that they have been buckling under the mounting pressure of possible layoffs­.

“You really don’t know what will happen because there isn’t likely to be any warning,” said Kaufman, a librarian in the psychology department. “If you don’t accept the package, you could be laid off—and the uncertainty tends to prod one towards taking what is possible.”

FAS Dean Michael D. Smith has firmly dismissed the notion that the administration has pinpointed specific individuals for layoffs—but he conceded that job cuts are “certainly on the table.”

Despite administrative silence, staff circles have been simmering with anxious talk about the possibility of future layoffs, which many of them view as inevitable.

In February meetings with department administrators, FAS finance officials said the University would review budgets after the 45-day window and then consider the need for layoffs with the Office of the General Counsel and human resources officials.

According to a guidebook for FAS departments that details planning procedures for next fiscal year’s budget, the administration expects to notify all laid-off employees within a short time frame in the spring. Departments will devise provisional lists of workers who might be laid off, and final decisions will be made by top FAS administrators. Employees will be given at least 60 days notice.

“They can’t make [budget deficits] go away by cutting out cookies and coffees. They do need to get rid of personnel,” said Beth Baiter, a 69-year-old staff assistant at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. “Given my age, I would probably be one of the early ones to be laid off.”

Despite the stated voluntary nature of the retirement program, Kaufman said he would have felt subtly threatened by the possibility of layoffs had he not accepted the package.

“I have more years ahead of me to work,” Kaufman said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t choose to retire if I knew my position is secure.”

Baiter and Kaufman handed in their forms indicating their decisions to take the package—their last day of work will be June 30. Baiter hopes to tutor, and Kaufman—eight years shy of retirement age and much too young to stop working, he said—wants to work at a gourmet food or liquor store.

“I’m not going to be a bag lady yet,” Baiter said. “I absolutely am not going to bleed until the train hits me.”

All the staff workers have been approaching the decision-making process of the past month and a half in light of their respective financial statuses, legal dependents, and work situations—and the sums of these factors are leading to different decisions.

Otto F. Coontz—assistant to the resident dean in Adams House—said he feels secure enough about his job to risk turning down early retirement. Houses are not feeling as much pressure to downsize as academic departments, and Coontz said that if he worked in an office with more staff and felt more expendable, the package would have presented a greater dilemma.

“I don’t think anyone will be feeling very confident saying that in this environment, but...I simply and honestly can’t imagine how the office would function,” Coontz said.

But fears of the harsh economic reality of joblessness have convinced some staffers that they may be better off taking their chances and staying where they are—for now, at least.

“I’m not taking it,” said an eligible administrator in the department of molecular and cellular biology. “I would really love to retire—would really, really love to retire—but it’s not a good time to retire in this financial atmosphere.”

The individual, who requested not to be named for fear that speaking out would increase the chance of a layoff, is clinging to the hope that the University will discover that cutting her job would not generate the greatest savings—two-thirds of her salary is paid by grants earmarked for certain types of research.

“I think about it every day. I think, oh God, why don’t I just take the early retirement? But the fact is I can’t take $3000 a month for the rest of my life,” the individual said. “I have to take a chance.”

In February, the University announced its early retirement incentive program for staffers at least 55 years of age and who have worked at Harvard for a minimum of 10 years as of June 30 of this year. Those who take the package will receive one-time pension benefits equal to their annual salaries, reduced by any severance packages they had been entitled to receive.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.