I hope you have had a chance to read the President’s June 12, 2020, email as well as our Return to Campus Plan for Employees. If you have not yet reviewed the plan, please do so as it includes essential information about the required safety practices and health screening processes for those returning to the office. The plan also describes ongoing alternative work options such as telework and flexible schedule arrangements. 

Phased Reopening of our Offices
The Bracken Library plan for reopening is limited to appointment-based visits until August 2, 2020, when it will open to the public. As the majority of our public-facing services are housed within Bracken Library, it makes sense to align our opening with Bracken for both appointment and walk-in services. We will be phasing in the return of a limited number of employees to campus for scheduled appointments and on-site preparation. Then, in early August, many employees will return to campus as we prepare for the arrival of on-campus students. Everyone reporting for on-campus duty, even intermittently, must first complete the self-certification form. Please check with your supervisor before returning to on-campus work if you are not currently reporting for on-campus assignments.

Continued Remote Work and Staggered Work Schedules

Many of you have submitted requests for alternate schedules and continued remote work. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to discuss these options with your supervisor. Please review the telework and flexible work guidelines for additional information.

IT Budget

I have met with the President to review the budget reduction targets and strategies, and he has confirmed our reduction targets for fiscal years 2021 and 2022. While we have prepared a strategy for budget reduction that would carry us into fiscal year 2023, the President has agreed we hold this part of the plan for the time being. Our target reduction for the fiscal year ending July 2021 is $795,000, and our reduction target for the fiscal year ending July of 2022 is $1.19 million.

Meeting these extraordinary reduction targets impacts every IT unit, and you and your colleagues have been creative, thoughtful, and selfless in developing the strategies which have allowed us to achieve our established goals. We were able to realize significant cost reductions by eliminating vacant positions, reducing travel and other discretionary expenses, ending software licensing for non-critical systems. Our move from Box.com to OneDrive will save a significant amount, as will our migration to Microsoft Defender for our antivirus solution. In addition to these reductions, we made substantial cuts to our general operating funds, which will have an impact on our ability to make other strategic investments going forward. We will, however, continue to pursue the best-in-class technologies for our students and to support our administrative services. I am grateful for the work and contributions from each of the IT units for having developed and brought forward these cost reduction strategies.  

With these combined efforts to reduce costs, I am pleased to share we have not needed to eliminate filled positions in our first year of reductions. I should point out that our division was quite fortunate in this regard, and that our institution as a whole experienced dramatically fewer cuts to filled positions than many other state universities and intuitions in our region, as well as nationally. As we look to July 2022, some cuts to filled positions may become necessary, however it is also possible we will avoid these reductions through natural attrition. Additionally, we may find cost savings through the following voluntary options, which may benefit individual employees while also reducing costs:

1. Phased Retirement Plan: The university has now approved a phased retirement option for professional and staff employees. Previously, this plan was only available to faculty. More details about requirements and options for this new phased retirement program can be found on the Human Resources web site.  Briefly, a phased retirement allows the professional or staff employee to step into retirement over up to a three-year period with a reduced work schedule up to three-years until the employee reaches full retirement, while realizing some substantial benefits in continued retirement contribution and salary. Please explore the details through this link if you are interested in the phased retirement program, I would strongly encourage you to discuss this option with your supervisor. We will make efforts to accommodate requests for phased retirement in accordance with the university policies and program requirements, and we will connect you with the right person in HR or the benefits office who can explain all of the benefits and the program details.
   
2. Reduced Work Schedule: Some full-time employees may not yet be eligible for the early retirement program, but may nonetheless be interested in a reduced work schedule. A reduced work schedule could involve fewer workdays per week, or fewer hours per day, or some combination of these options with a modified work schedule. As you know, the President has encouraged all vice presidents to think creatively about these options, and in considering ways that we might permit and encourage arrangements that benefit university employees. It is possible, for example, that we might arrange individual employees for continued remote work in conjunction with an alternate work schedule. Many of the details of these programs, answers to frequently asked questions can be found on thetelework and flexible work HR site, however, please discuss your specific circumstances and requirements with your supervisor if you are interested in such an arrangement. 

In the event we have employees who take advantage of these options, we will consider our staffing needs and impact on services, and when consistent with our strategic objectives, we will look to use these savings to achieve our budget reduction targets. I remain hopeful that these options will mutually benefit employees desiring a phased retirement program or a reduced work schedule as well as helping to achieve our budget targets. We do not yet know if we will be called upon to make additional budget reductions in the 2023 fiscal year. Much depends on enrollment and retention, and we will share more details as we get closer to these decision points.

Thank you again for all of your diligent work in helping to meet our budget reduction targets, and for your ongoing commitment to Ball State University.