Clemson University offers voluntary separation and retirement to 522 employees
Anderson Independent Mail
July 12, 2011
Letters were mailed early Monday to Clemson University employees whom administrators have asked to consider leaving their positions.
Voluntary separation and retirement deals were extended to hundreds of employees in nine university divisions, most of which are not faculty members. All employees were informed of the program on Monday and details of who is eligible were posted online immediately.
A statement from the university said the deals are being offered to employees in select departments and are based on each division’s strategic plans. No one knows yet how many employees will take the university up on its offers or how much it could save the university in personnel costs.
University spokeswoman Robin Denny said revenue saved on some open positions will be redirected to other areas, depending on each department’s strategic plan. This is part of the “divest to invest” message that Clemson President Jim Barker has been communicating since February.
He said this is not a budget-cutting tool.
“It’s not a universitywide offering,” Denny said. “It’s whatever departments chose to participate and take advantage of these tools.”
Denny said 522 people were offered voluntary separation deals, and 245 have been offered retirement incentive packages. Denny said many employees were eligible for both voluntary separation and retirement, and she did not know how many individual employees had been contacted.
Eligible employees have until Aug. 29 to decide whether to leave Clemson.
