Florida Gulf Coast University is cutting back hours for 137 employees this summer to save money for what is shaping up to be an uncertain fall semester.
President Mike Martin made the announcement in an email to employees Tuesday, explaining that the move stems from COVID-19 and the Fort Myers college's shift to virtual instruction.
With students not on campus, there are certain employees with nothing — or little — to do, he said. Among those impacted are people who work in residence halls, libraries and campus-run gyms.
“We didn’t want to just lay them off wholesale,” Martin said. “What we tried to do was reduce their time so they could continue to have some income and continue to have their benefits package intact until students come back and they have something to do for their jobs.”
The cuts take effect June 14 and will run through Aug. 9, although this time frame could be “shortened or lengthened” as needed, the email states. The impact will vary by job on campus, with some employees not working at all during the two-month period while others could drop from a five- to four-day work week.
FGCU is home to 1,474 faculty and staff and serves just shy of 15,000 students. It has a total budget of $273 million.
The people impacted by the reductions are paid with money raised by student fees — a revenue loss the university is seeing since it opted to no longer charge students for these services.
“…that fee is hard to charge when you can’t come in and use the facilities,” Martin said. “It didn’t seem fair to tell students who are at home taking online classes you should pay for the gym since you are not using it.”
More: How Southwest Florida colleges are tightening budgets and planning for fall semester
The cuts are referred to as a “Reduced Time Appointment” in the email. The plan is projected to save the university about $340,372, which Martin said will help “cushion” next year’s budget to prepare for the still “uncertain” fall semester.
“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the fall, I think everybody knows that,” Martin said. “Will we get another round or spiking of COVID-19? I don’t know. Will we have a special session of the legislature that may cut our budget? I don’t know. Might we get hit by a hurricane or more than one? I don’t know. All of those things could happen.”
But if none of these issues happen in a “dramatic fashion,” he believes the university will be able to push through fall “OK” as long as it gets “a large percentage of students back and the number of freshmen" admitted show up.
If the school hits “a tough spot,” he is hopeful that the reserve built up from end-of-spring and summertime cuts will allow FGCU to “still provide income at some level to every one of our employees.”
More: FGCU's Holocaust exhibit goes virtual, Q&A planned with author who inspired work
The cut in hours is on trend nationally with other universities, where furloughs and layoffs are being announced. Similar cost-cutting measures are being taken statewide, Martin said.
FGCU faces a different obstacle than most universities because it is younger, which means it doesn’t have the benefit of a larger endowment fund to draw from and it still doesn’t own its parking garages or residence halls. These debt payments still need to be made on time.
A recent interview revealed that FGCU is set to pay $12.2 million for student housing and $1.3 million on parking garage debt next year.
Martin believes the university is seeing optimistic signs for the road ahead. Summer school enrollment was up, the school has reached its target for freshmen deposits and residence hall reservations are “running about the normal place.”
“If everything holds up, everything will be OK and we’ll be OK,” Martin said. “In that regard, I’m feeling optimistic.”
More: Lee school district eyes budget cuts against the re-opening models for next year's school year
While the “math is simple” in cutting back people’s hours, Martin said “everyone is feeling pain over this.”
"… the reality is we know these people and we like them and we don’t want to in anyway to do them harm," Martin said.
Employees who have earned vacation or sick leave “may choose to use these hours against the reduced hours, and thus be paid for those hours,” explained Susan Evans, chief of staff, in an email.
More: Professors working double duty in SWFL hospitals take COVID-19 experiences to virtual classrooms
When asked if any of these changes would be considered a furlough, Evans responded that "none is a furlough." Faculty are not impacted by the change and Evans believes "there will be no impact to students…"
The email to employees says other workers can go on "voluntary leave without pay during this period,” which would require approval from their manager and human resources. It is not known how many stepped up voluntarily.
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