By McGill Reporter Staff
While McGill remains on track to meeting its $43.5 million cost-reduction target by April 30, 2014, Provost Anthony C. Masi reported to Senate that the cost-saving reduction to McGill’s workforce means the University will need to innovate and do things differently. In an update on McGill’s financial situation at this fall’s first Senate meeting on September 18, Masi also indicated that efforts to stay on track must continue because McGill’s financial situation remains precarious.
The University needed to reduce its payroll in order to deal with the government cuts to McGill’s operating funding. Functioning with some 340 fewer positions in total, however, represents a significant challenge. “We are working hard to facilitate the process of internal reorganization to streamline our operations and develop ways of doing things differently to reduce costs and, where possible, find innovative ways of generating new revenues while making sure that we continue to protect our academic and research mission,” Masi said. When asked how the University plans to address the uneven impact of the Voluntary Retirement Program (VRP) – some 255 employees took the retirement package, with certain departments yielding higher numbers of new retirees than others – Masi said that workload reorganization is now a primary undertaking for departments and administrative units across the University. In addition a special Workforce Planning (WFP) initiative under the guidance of VP (AF) Michael Di Grappa and AVP (HR) Lynne Gervais is identifying the gaps in critical areas. However, he reiterated that, given total reduction in positions, “we must ask ourselves how we can do things differently,” with every employee having a role to play in meeting this challenge.
Read the full story in the McGill Reporter.
September 25, 2013