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Proposed Voluntary Separation Program
November 19, 2007

Dear Colleagues:

Subject: UCOP Employee Voluntary Separation Program

In last week's message about the current state of the Office of President restructuring initiative, Provost Hume talked about the need for UCOP to align behind a new vision for UC. This alignment will take some time, but his letter also made clear a critical bottom line: "The Office of the President must become smaller in size, more focused in its mission, and more customer-oriented in its culture."

In an ideal world, the planning and implementation of this kind of realignment would be carefully sequenced. But these are not ideal circumstances, and we believe you deserve the opportunity to weigh your options and your future even in the absence of clarity about the future role, size and structure of UCOP and the personnel impacts of what ultimately is decided.

Therefore, we are proposing today the UCOP Voluntary Separation Program, a new program designed to help interested employees transition out of UCOP. Under this program, UCOP employees who choose to voluntarily separate from UCOP will receive a severance payment, based on their current salary and years of service. The advantage of this program is that it gives employees who may want to consider retirement or other career choices outside of UCOP additional financial support they would not otherwise get. It also affords employees some additional time and support in planning their transition.

This is a proposed program that the University is sending out for comment to employees and unions. It will not be final until comments are received and evaluated for inclusion in the final program. Following the comment period, final details of this program will be issued in early January 2008, and employees will have until January 31, 2008, to decide whether or not to participate in this program. Employees choosing to participate in this program will be required to establish, in consultation with their supervisor, a separation date of no later than June 30, 2008. The program is entirely voluntary.

Attached is the draft proposal for the program. Employees are requested to send comments to Rosemary Monroe no later than December 19, 2007.

To be clear, this program does not provide additional retirement plan benefits and thus is not a voluntary early retirement program (VERIP), and the program only applies to those functions within UCOP that ultimately report up to the President. Offices of The Regents (Treasurer's Office, Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Senior Vice President of Compliance and Audit, and the Secretary and Chief of Staff's Office) are not eligible for this program. It also does not apply to senior management who are at-will employees. Other exclusions are detailed in the attached plan proposal.

Interested employees can get program information at http://hrop.ucop.edu/vsp/. Employees may also direct questions to their supervisor and to the following people in UCOP Human Resources:

Rosemary Monroe, 987-0846
Michael Waldman, 987-0339
Rene Jackson, 987-0879

Also, as a reminder, we are using the website at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/future to help keep you up to date as this restructuring process progresses.

These are difficult times, but we hope that from them will emerge new opportunities, both for the extraordinary staff at the Office of the President and for the University of California as an institution. In the meantime, thank you for your continuing dedication and hard work on its behalf.

Sincerely,

Wyatt R. Hume Katherine N. Lapp Provost and Executive Vice President Executive Vice President Business Operations Academic and Health Affairs


UCOP Directory Policies \| Forms UCOP Human Resources Contact Info \| About Us University of California 1111 Franklin Street Oakland, CA 94607 Maps and Directions	Home < Proposed Voluntary Separation Program Proposed Voluntary Separation Program November 19, 2007 Dear Colleagues: Subject: UCOP Employee Voluntary Separation Program In last week's message about the current state of the Office of President restructuring initiative, Provost Hume talked about the need for UCOP to align behind a new vision for UC. This alignment will take some time, but his letter also made clear a critical bottom line: "The Office of the President must become smaller in size, more focused in its mission, and more customer-oriented in its culture." In an ideal world, the planning and implementation of this kind of realignment would be carefully sequenced. But these are not ideal circumstances, and we believe you deserve the opportunity to weigh your options and your future even in the absence of clarity about the future role, size and structure of UCOP and the personnel impacts of what ultimately is decided. Therefore, we are proposing today the UCOP Voluntary Separation Program, a new program designed to help interested employees transition out of UCOP. Under this program, UCOP employees who choose to voluntarily separate from UCOP will receive a severance payment, based on their current salary and years of service. The advantage of this program is that it gives employees who may want to consider retirement or other career choices outside of UCOP additional financial support they would not otherwise get. It also affords employees some additional time and support in planning their transition. This is a proposed program that the University is sending out for comment to employees and unions. It will not be final until comments are received and evaluated for inclusion in the final program. Following the comment period, final details of this program will be issued in early January 2008, and employees will have until January 31, 2008, to decide whether or not to participate in this program. Employees choosing to participate in this program will be required to establish, in consultation with their supervisor, a separation date of no later than June 30, 2008. The program is entirely voluntary. Attached is the draft proposal for the program. Employees are requested to send comments to Rosemary Monroe no later than December 19, 2007. To be clear, this program does not provide additional retirement plan benefits and thus is not a voluntary early retirement program (VERIP), and the program only applies to those functions within UCOP that ultimately report up to the President. Offices of The Regents (Treasurer's Office, Office of the General Counsel, Office of the Senior Vice President of Compliance and Audit, and the Secretary and Chief of Staff's Office) are not eligible for this program. It also does not apply to senior management who are at-will employees. Other exclusions are detailed in the attached plan proposal. Interested employees can get program information at http://hrop.ucop.edu/vsp/. Employees may also direct questions to their supervisor and to the following people in UCOP Human Resources: Rosemary Monroe, 987-0846 Michael Waldman, 987-0339 Rene Jackson, 987-0879 Also, as a reminder, we are using the website at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/future to help keep you up to date as this restructuring process progresses. These are difficult times, but we hope that from them will emerge new opportunities, both for the extraordinary staff at the Office of the President and for the University of California as an institution. In the meantime, thank you for your continuing dedication and hard work on its behalf. Sincerely, Wyatt R. Hume Katherine N. Lapp Provost and Executive Vice President Executive Vice President Business Operations Academic and Health Affairs	News Archive \| RSS Newsfeed Voluntary Separation Program Information Frequently Asked Questions Updated January 2, 2008 Plan Document Final [PDF] Election Form and Instructions Supervisor Transmittal Form Service and Severance Calculations [PDF] VSP Announcement [Web] \| [PDF] OP Restructuring Initiative Website Some of the documents above aresaved in the Acrobat Reader format [PDF]. To read and print them, download the reader from Adobe.