Harvard is offering voluntary buyouts to staff….will layoffs be next?

Dear Colleagues, 
I am writing today to inform you that Harvard University will offer a
voluntary early retirement program for eligible staff members. The Human
Resources community will begin to provide details of the program to
eligible staff next week. Generally, those staff members who are age 55
and over, have 10 or more years of participation service, and are
participants in the Defined Benefit Plan are eligible for this program.
As we work to meet the fiscal challenges that confront us, University
leaders have been taking a hard look at all of our operations and
capital planning to determine how we can reduce overall spending while
still investing in the vital academic programs that will ensure
Harvard's excellence in teaching and research for years to come. 
At every step of the way, we have been acutely aware of the needs of our
staff whose work supports the University's mission every day. We are
sensitive to the effect of our decisions on those who have helped make
Harvard great, and who rely on the University for their livelihoods.
With these objectives in mind, a generous early retirement program has
been under consideration since December.  Through the program, we aim to
design a voluntary program that will both offer generous incentives to
qualifying employees who may wish to retire and help the University make
progress in reducing overall compensation costs.  
Eligible staff members will receive individualized benefit statements,
and will be supported in their decision-making through overview sessions
that will include financial counseling assistance. In order to give
interested staff members the attention they deserve, the program will be
sequenced in two identical phases, with the first phase beginning in
February and the second in March. The initial phase will cover staff
members working with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Harvard
Medical and Dental Schools. 
We will notify eligible staff once details of the program are finalized,
and information for the general community will be posted on HARVie
(http://harvie.harvard.edu). 
Sincerely,
Marilyn Hausammann
Vice President for Human Resources