Laid-off Staffers Find Harvard Jobs

Two months after the University implemented sweeping workforce reductions, union officials remain optimistic that the over 100 laid-off staffers in the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers will be placed into open job positions elsewhere within the University.

“Our official view at this point is, ‘So far, so good.’ Or maybe even a little better,” said HUCTW director Bill Jaeger. “The human resources community at the University is more aware than it’s ever been, and more thoughtful than we’ve ever seen, about really giving high priority to [laid-off employees] for open jobs.”

He said that 32 laid off staff workers have already found new jobs at Harvard—an accomplishment he attributes to the Union’s strong work security program and productive collaboration with University administrators. He said that he could not say exactly how many unionized workers had been laid off in June, due to ambiguities such as voluntary layoffs and job offers with fewer hours, but that the figure fell somewhere between 100 and 130.

Jaeger also said that in the late spring and summer, union officials noticed “a burst” of job postings at Harvard for union members. Whereas they might typically expect 10 to 15 new job posts a week during the spring, by June and July the number sometimes climbed to 30 to 40, Jaeger said. The ample number of available jobs and the union’s strong work security program bodes well for the remaining 70 to 100 laid-off union members still actively seeking Harvard jobs.

“There’s a real reason to be optimistic,” Jaeger said, noting that as of Friday, there were 136 open job posted online available for union members. “Maybe it would be presumptuous to make a prediction, but we still think it’s possible for everybody who’s facing layoffs to be placed.”

Jaeger conjectured that the upswing in job postings may be the result of delaying postings to provide a safety net for those who might later face layoffs.

But when asked about the hiring spike, University spokesman Kevin Galvin pointed out that the number of jobs currently available at Harvard is 30 percent less than a year ago, and that Harvard hiring is cyclical and tends to be higher during the academic year.

Galvin emphasized that laid off union workers will receive full pay and benefits through November, and that University case managers are continuing to aid affected employees in finding new jobs.

Jason Gerdom, a HUCTW member laid off from the athletics department but who will soon assume a position in the development office, lauded his case manager, who critiqued Gerdom’s resume and arranged job interviews, Gerdom said.

“You think of a lot of companies who say, ‘Don’t come into work tomorrow, we’ll mail you your check,’” he said. “For me, it was a process of, ‘Okay, we’ll help you get wrapped up, start meeting your case manager, and find you a new job.”

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.