The University of Arizona has decided to discontinue the temporary hiring slowdown that has been in place since March 30, 2020. The end of the slowdown was effective immediately as of last Monday, Dec. 7.
The university had decided to introduce additional layers of approval that the president was reviewing. The additional layers of approval were delaying some of the hires and only the urgent matters were going forward*.
Helena Rodrigues, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, stated in an email, “People were getting frustrated with the process, with the time it was taking, but also a lot of good already came from the hiring slowdown.”
Individual colleges and divisions had started additional reviews internally that weren’t in place before as a result of the hiring slowdown.
“The overall feeling was that we had a lot of good checks and balances that were introduced as a result of implementing the hiring slowdown, that we didn’t actually need it moving forward,” Rodrigues said.
Other financial mitigation strategies are also going to be explored as an effort to obtain more financial savings. Departments, colleges, and divisions have already planned on receiving budget cuts. As a result, the hiring slowdown was not as effective as the university had originally envisioned.
Those who have submitted a hiring waiver and are waiting for approval are now able to move forward without the waiver, according to the UA’s human resources department. Those who were responsible for approving hiring waivers and still have some that are pending, no longer need to review or approve.
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All existing approvals in UAccess and talent will remain in place and all recruitment and compensation guidelines still apply.
For posting a position in talent, the normal procedures will apply, except that you are no longer required to upload an approved hiring slowdown waiver. To submit a promotion, pay increase and/or FTE change, faculty will proceed with the existing approvals for their units.
A Waiver of Recruitment is still required for a noncompetitive hire since it is different than the hiring slowdown waiver.
*Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with additional information provided by Helena Rodrigues, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at the University of Arizona.
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