More voluntary redundancies

THE number of staff taking voluntary redundancies as part of a University of Otago support services review has reached 149.

A spokeswoman said yesterday 96 support staff members had left the university since the review process began.

Seventyeight went through the voluntary redundancy process. Another 71 voluntary redundancies had been confirmed, but the staff had not left yet.

Human resources director Kevin Seales said there would be ‘‘no big bang implementation’’ when the new support services structure — affecting IT, finance, administration, marketing and human resources — would be completely operational.

However the new structure for administration staff, supply chain staff, and ‘‘student experience’’ staff, including timetable and student development, was expected to be in place by the end of September.

In May, the university said the total number of voluntary redundancies was 118, and since then a further 31 redundancies had been confirmed.

Tertiary Education Union Dunedin organiser Shaun Scott said as the process drew to a close the mood among staff was ‘‘more hopeful’’ than it had been.

However, those who did have jobs still did not know exactly what their roles were going to look like.

‘‘Once there’s some certainty and people are in those new positions, that will bring a sense of relief,’’ Mr Scott said.

Two hundred and eighty finance and administration staff on the Dunedin campus received letters on May 23, letting them know whether their jobs would exist once the review was complete.

Of them, 215 were given the chance to move into similar roles, and most of the remaining 65 staff were offered a similar role at a lower level.

A second round of letters came out on May 29 for staff in the School of Dentistry, and on the Wellington and Christchurch campuses.

The university’s redevelopment of the St David 2 lecture theatre, where shared services would be located, was almost finished and the new AskOtago information hub was due to open on July 30.