As the University pay reduction/furlough program takes effect this fall, most of UCSC's workforce will be unavailable for work an average of 8 percent of the time - almost two full working days a month per employee. When combined with the significant budget cuts sustained over the past two years, the campus has much less capacity to support our students, faculty, and staff in their daily work.
Impact on services
"My hope is that we will collectively focus on serving our students and each other in the best manner possible, given resource constraints and workload limitations, rather than focus on past decisions that we wish were different. Patience and perspective will be vitally important as we learn to cope with reduced service levels." - Provost Kliger, 9-4-09 |
In order to help you understand and navigate the impacts of budget cuts, the following information has been compiled.
Budget-related service impacts
- In order to accommodate budget cuts and furloughs, some offices are beginning to reduce their operating hours and modify their procedures; they are coordinating with offices offering like or related services so as to minimize the disruption to clients.
- It is recommended that before you visit or call an office, check their website for the latest information about how they have adjusted or redesigned their services. To make it easier to find such announcements, each major service provider has agreed to post such information on their home page and to use the "budget squeeze" graphic (shown above) to call your attention to their link.
- The following are examples of the types of service reductions or changes that have been implemented thus far:
- Greater dependence on automated telephone attendant functions and/or voice mail to handle voice calls.
- Greater use of email for submitting questions or service problems; in doing so, include all the relevant information needed to respond satisfactorily to your request.
- Some offices have implemented, for example, a "Friday light" schedule where the office may be closed to the public one or two days per month but there are still staff onsite behind the scenes handling workload backlogs.
- Even in these trying times where, by necessity, it is not possible to be as responsive as in the past, the goal of each service office is that they will maintain their reputation as a team of responsive, friendly, and client-focused staff.
- The goal of each academic/instructional department-even as the campus is forced to trim classes-is that each undergraduate and graduate student will have access to the service courses they need to fulfill their general education or foundational requirements and/or the courses in their major needed to complete their degree in a timely manner.
Share information about service impacts
- If your area has a service announcement that should be shared with the campus community, please notify us.
