Category: Employee Relations

  • Best Practices for Facing Tough Budget Choices

    Best Practices for Facing Tough Budget Choices

    by Julie Burrell | March 19, 2025

    Navigating budget cuts — especially when it comes to personnel decisions — is one of the most difficult challenges HR professionals can face, both professionally and emotionally.

    As payroll is often an institution’s biggest budget line item, it’s often one of the first places to be impacted by cuts. Whether HR is considering instituting hiring freezes or moving toward a reduction in force (RIF), the path forward requires strategic thinking and compassionate implementation.

    Here are key takeaways from the CUPA-HR webinar Budget Reductions in Higher Ed: Strategies, Collaboration, Challenges, which detailed how one institution implemented a multi-step cost-reduction program and ultimately achieved $15 million in savings.

    Best Practices for Payroll Reductions

    Cultivate collaboration between HR and finance. A reduction in force requires a strong partnership between HR and finance. This partnership was brought to life by webinar presenters Shawna Kuether, the associate vice chancellor of human resources at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and Bethany Rusch, now the vice president of finance and administration at Moraine Park Technical College (previously of UWO). For actions like personnel reductions and severance packages, finance focused on cost control and supplying relevant metrics, while HR addressed risk mitigation by identifying legal and compliance implications.

    Their advice to HR: If you don’t already have a strong partnership with finance, begin building one now. A working relationship built on mutual respect is not only beneficial when difficult budgetary constraints arise, but also vital to the overall health of your institution.

    Meet a tight timeline if necessary. UWO was looking to improve its financial position within one year. That meant HR and finance had three months from the project approval stage to notifying employees.

    Here are the five broad strategies they implemented in that timeframe:

    • Offering voluntary retirement incentive options.
    • Freezing all personnel actions, including searches already underway.
    • Pledging to no new financial commitments.
    • Enacting graduated, intermittent furloughs for all non-academic employees, which provided the funds for the voluntary retirement incentives.
    • Implementing a reduction in force to reduce salary costs.

    Consider a workforce-planning workshop. In the webinar, Kuether and Rusch detail their five-day planning workshop, which was driven by their why (a set of five guiding principles); their who (such as subject matter experts who understood which critical skill sets were needed to ensure continuity of operations); and their what (such as key metrics to determine what staff-to-student ratios to use).

    Communicate early and often what criteria you employ — and document them. During an RIF, clear and transparent communication and documentation are fundamental to success. Criteria for layoffs followed the documented university policy, which is publicly available online, and these criteria were communicated clearly during the course of the RIF process, thereby minimizing liability, employee appeals, and potential litigation.

    Provide employee transitional planning and resources. HR’s work is far from over once RIF decisions are announced. At UWO, transition support to affected employees and their supervisors included:

    • Offering EAP resources, including onsite walk-in sessions with counselors.
    • Providing toolkits to managers handling difficult conversations.
    • Offering rapid-response sessions in collaboration with the Department of Workforce Development to provide training on filing unemployment and finding job opportunities in the state.
    • Contracting with an external vendor to provide outplacement services, including training and interviewing skills.
    • Hosting a job fair specifically for dislocated workers.

    Maintain the results after the RIF has concluded. Following through with a RIF is emotionally and operationally challenging — you want to ensure the results last. The webinar covered tips on maintaining proper guardrails to protect the results.

    Acknowledge the emotional toll. “This is heavy and oftentimes heartbreaking work,” Kuether and Rusch stressed. “But for us, and maybe for you, the financial realities of our university could not be ignored. You have to find your motivation in knowing you are making your college financially viable and able to focus on accomplishing its educational mission.”

    They say the two most important traits that higher ed leaders need during budget cuts are resilience and adaptability. Resilience allowed the HR and finance teams to stay focused in moments of stress, while adaptability helped them remove barriers as they came up and stay the course.

    Want to learn more about UWO’s work? Watch the webinar recording.

    Related CUPA-HR Resources

    Furloughs, Layoffs and RIFs — Best Practices in Policy Development in the Wake of COVID-19 — This on-demand CUPA-HR webinar covers the pros and cons of four main options for reducing payroll costs: furlough, salary freeze, salary reduction and RIFs.

    Layoff/RIF/Furlough Toolkit — A highlight of this HR toolkit is “You Can Get There From Here: The Road to Downsizing in Higher Education,” a comprehensive guide to all aspects of budget reductions.

    Change Management Toolkit — This HR toolkit includes resources ranging from change-management basics to best practices from higher ed institutions.



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  • Resources for Addressing Workplace Conflict

    Resources for Addressing Workplace Conflict

    by Christy Williams | March 5, 2025

    As your institution processes its response to recent executive orders and the reactions of employees and students across campus, increasing workplace tensions may make it more challenging for your HR team to maintain a positive and collaborative environment.

    These challenges are not novel for higher ed HR, but they can be used as a springboard to examine the approaches you’ve used in the past and reimagine how they should — or could — evolve now. So, how can we support each other in our collective need for respectful discourse and civil disagreement? Here are some valuable insights and resources to help you along the way.

    Develop Conflict-Savvy Leaders

    Conflict is an inevitable part of any workplace, and higher ed institutions are no exception. Erica Hines, chief human resources and personnel success officer at Community College of Aurora, recommends that rather than attempting to avoid conflict altogether, we recognize the importance of embracing conflict as an opportunity for growth. And creating a conflict-savvy culture like that begins at the top.

    It’s important for leaders not only to be prepared to address conflict, but also to model that behavior for everyone in your institution — administration, faculty, staff and students.

    As Hines details in her webinar, Developing Conflict-Savvy Leaders, when your institution’s leadership is prepared for conflict, a culture of trust can be built. When leaders are willing to face conflict head-on and focus on finding win-win solutions, fewer issues escalate.

    Train for Conflict Resolution

    It’s not enough, however, for only administration to be conflict-savvy and model civil conversations. Managers and employees should be provided with strategies for de-escalating workplace tensions.

    Tulane University’s conflict resolution program supports its employees with a variety of conflict resolution services, including consultations to learn about their program, coaching to help employees with specific challenges, mediation to help employees through a disagreement, and facilitated conversations led by a professionally trained specialist. Tulane’s HR team believes that “conflict can be a tool for positive change when employees have the resources to build upon their conflict competence.”

    Establish Clear Norms Around Communication and Feedback

    In the Developing Conflict-Savvy Leaders webinar, Erica Hines stresses that employees at all levels need to understand how to give and receive input in a constructive way. One norm she suggests is to use “I” or “my” when offering feedback. For example, “Here’s what I noticed…” or “Here’s what I felt when…” A norm you might establish for receiving feedback could focus on active listening, summarizing what you just heard, and then asking how you can reach a win-win solution. For example, “What would you prefer I do in that situation?” Or “What ideas do you have for managing this situation in the future?”

    When teams have a shared understanding of how to navigate difficult conversations, they can address issues proactively instead of letting them escalate. By integrating these practices into daily interactions, you can cultivate an environment where open dialogue and mutual respect thrive.

    Prioritize Professionalism and Civility

    Creating a culture of professionalism is the foundation of a kinder campus. As Jennifer Parker, assistant director of HR operations at the Colorado Community College System, highlights in her article, A Kinder Campus, professionalism is more than just following policies. Professionalism is how faculty, staff and administrators treat one another daily. Respect, integrity and ethical conduct should guide every interaction, ensuring that civility remains a cornerstone of your culture.

    Beyond professionalism, Parker emphasized the role of active listening and empathy in conflict resolution. When employees take the time to truly listen and seek to understand different perspectives, they’re not just resolving disputes — they’re “building bridges of trust.” Demonstrating empathy during difficult conversations helps diffuse tension and encourages constructive dialogue. When you prioritize professionalism, you create an environment where trust and collaboration flourish.

    From Conflict to Meaningful Conversations

    Addressing workplace conflict isn’t just about resolving disputes — it’s about creating an environment where open dialogue is encouraged, and employees feel heard and supported. Because of this, conflict resolution training shouldn’t be a one-time event, but an ongoing practice woven into workplace culture. While difficult conversations may never be easy, the more everyone practices, the more natural those conversations become. By setting clear expectations, proactively guiding discussions, and championing a culture of respect, you can help transform workplace tensions into opportunities for growth and collaboration.

    Related CUPA-HR Resources

    Developing Conflict-Savvy Leaders — This CUPA-HR webinar explores how HR can help leaders address conflict head-on, thus minimizing the need for HR intervention down the line.

    Ushering in the New Wave of Conflict Resolution: Tulane University’s Restorative Approach — This article details the launch of Tulane University’s conflict-resolution program.

    A Kinder Campus: Building an AI-Powered, Repeatable and Fun Civility Training Program — This magazine article outlines how the Colorado Community College System created a campaign to address incivility on their campuses.

    Civility in the Workplace Toolkit — This HR toolkit provides practical strategies for fostering respectful communications and managing workplace conflicts.

    Managing Difficult Conversations Toolkit — This HR toolkit provides basic strategies that can be widely used as starting points for many challenging conversations.

    Next Steps: A Practical Guide for Ensuring Access and Opportunity for All Employees — This CUPA-HR blog post offers considerations for ensuring that you are providing equal access and opportunity for all.

    Resilience and Psychological Safety: Navigating Uncertainty — This blog post explores how resilience and psychological safety can be particularly useful in times of change and uncertainty.



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