Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for Human Resources, reviewed the university's cost-cutting efforts to date during a recent meeting with the Administrative Women's Network.
Cavanaugh Discusses Compensation, Cost-cutting and Culture with AWN
Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for Human Resources, spent the majority of his talk with members of the Administrative Women's Network last week discussing the status of Duke's budgetary challenges. But it didn't take long for a question about the potential for a pay increase next year to come up.
"At this time it is simply to early to predict for July of next year, but I am still optimistic," Cavanaugh said. "I'm keeping it at the top of the priority list."
Cavanaugh cautioned that the final decision regarding a salary increase program for University staff will be influenced by the success of the university's cost-reduction and cost-management efforts and the performance of the market.
In response to a comment that last year's salary freeze for university employees earning more than $50,000 made it difficult to get excited about doing performance reviews this year, Cavanaugh encouraged managers in the group to remember that the performance review is about more than money, that it helps define an institution's culture.
"All of us — from president to custodians — everybody wants and should demand some feedback on their performance from their immediate supervisor," he said. "We have the obligation to provide that to our colleagues as accurately as we can."
During the lunchtime meeting Oct. 30, Cavanaugh reviewed the university's cost-cutting efforts to date, including limiting salary increases in 2009, curtailment of overtime, a vacancy management process and retirement incentives.
These processes have already helped Duke cut costs and shed more than 400 positions without resorting to large-scale layoffs, unlike other peer institutions. He reminded the audience that the economic outlook differs depending upon where you are at Duke. The health system ended the past fiscal year with positive financial performance , while the university is diligently working to close an estimated $125 million budget shortfall over three years.
Cavanaugh also addressed other topics such as the value and viability of flexible work options by recalling a recent example close to home. "After my daughter accepted her first job out of college, she said, 'Dad, you are the only one who worries about all those other benefits like health care and retirement — do you know I have flexible hours at work which is more important to me?'"
Flexible work schedules are not an option for all employees because the nature of work for some positions requires on-site presence, Cavanaugh said. But, he said, managers should consider them when possible because of the value they offer in retaining employees.
Throughout the talk, Margaret Riley, director of the Global Education Office for Undergraduates and a dean in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, took notes so that she could report back to others in her department. Although she said she had heard much of the news Cavanaugh shared through other channels, she appreciated Cavanaugh's candor.
"His willingness to come talk to a group like AWN is another example of his willingness to tell it like it is," Riley said.
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