Following revenue losses caused by COVID-19 during the fall semester, NC State will implement furloughs and salary reductions for employees in auxiliary units, such as Campus Enterprises and NC State Athletics, beginning Nov. 12 and ending in June.
The recent furloughs were announced on Sept. 24 in an email from NC State, detailing a $75.4 million loss in revenue, which will affect employees and leadership staff. Most student workers have already been furloughed or terminated.
According to Richard Berlin, associate vice chancellor of Campus Enterprises, Campus Enterprises is the largest entity affected by the furloughs; however, the current furlough plan is temporary
“When two-thirds of your business revenue is gone, you have to make adjustments,” said Berlin. “But you’re not doing this because you want to lose employees or you don’t need them anymore.”
NC State implemented different types of furloughs based on individual positions and responsibilities. Furloughs included partial, where employees do not work on certain days of the week; full, where employees work zero hours; and hybrid, where employees are on a full furlough for a designated period of time before returning to work.
According to Charles Maimone, vice chancellor for finance and administration, in Campus Enterprises, 67 employees are partially furloughed, 90 employees are fully furloughed and 96 are on hybrid furloughs. Maimone also said all the administrators in Campus Enterprises took temporary salary reductions.
“This was not an easy thing to have to do,” Berlin said. “We did so many things before we even considered furloughs to save money in our division.”
Many of the employees who were partially furloughed or on hybrid furloughs already work seasonally in response to the influx of students during fall and spring semesters.
However, there will be a decreased number of students on campus in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with many planning to take online or hybrid classes. Maimone said the current furlough plan accounts for the worst case scenario in the spring semester.
“Our hope is that the spring semester will actually generate much more work than this furlough strategy plans for,” Maimone said.
Housing is one of the best indicators of how many auxiliary employees will be needed in Campus Enterprises during any given semester.
Currently, there are approximately 2,000 people living in on-campus residences. According to Maimone, the University currently expects around 4,500 people living on campus during the spring 2021 semester.
“These furloughs will be mitigated then because we will bring more people back to work because we will have more activity on the campus,” Maimone said. “And so, that is our hope, is that we actually do reactivate in a larger scale than we are right now.”
Benefits will still be available to furloughed employees, unlike in the case of layoffs or terminations.
University Human Resources held information sessions over Zoom for employees who received furloughs.
Employees can find answers to questions about furloughs and more through the University Human Resources website.
