HOLYOKE — Citing the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holyoke Community College will lay off 33 part-time, non-benefited employees “whose jobs simply do not translate to remote work environments,” HCC President Christina Royal wrote in an email to faculty and staff Tuesday evening.
The layoffs go into effect May 1. Additionally, part-time, non-benefited employees who remain will be paid only for hours worked “effective May 4 and for the duration of current contracts,” Royal wrote.
Until that date, these employees are being paid for all of their scheduled hours “regardless of what job roles they’ve had and how many hours that would translate into,” Royal told the Gazette in an interview on Thursday.
Those laid off are the “the types of positions like parking lot attendants, the types of work that aren’t going to work in our physical spaces … because there’s no work for them to do with everyone being off the physical campus,” Royal said.
“It’s a very difficult decision,” Royal said. “We’re in an environment where we know a lot of people are being impacted, and we’re trying to do everything possible to minimize the impact to employees.
“But it’s an unfortunate reality of the situation that we’re dealing with, with everything happening in the world right now,” she added.
The layoffs come as many higher education institutions are making cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic: Earlier this week, Smith College announced 5% to 20% pay cuts for administrators, furloughs, and that officials are considering the possibility of an off-campus fall semester. Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach said he is taking a 50% pay cut.
Royal said there is “a lot of uncertainty” as to whether the layoffs at HCC will be permanent and that some of these decisions may be driven by fall enrollment.
The college is still working on financial modeling, Royal said, but expects to budget about a 10% decline in enrollment due to the pandemic.
At the moment, HCC is planning to offer in-person classes in the fall, the college announced on Wednesday as registration for summer and fall 2020 classes opened. The community college also is making contingency plans to continue remote learning if current social distancing restrictions are not lifted in time. All summer classes will be offered remotely, with limited exceptions currently planned for hands-on culinary arts courses.
“I feel like right now, the most important thing we can do as an institution to prepare for the near future is prepare to be adaptable, to be flexible, and to be able to resiliently transition to another pathway if we’re not able to follow through on the current plans,” Royal said, “so flexibility is it right now.”
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.