Please note that there is a clarification for the campus budget update from then chancellor-designate on June 26, 2017.
In that article we wrote “Non-academic units are meeting their targets primarily through staff and service level reductions. Our overall staff workforce has shrunk by approximately 450 FTE within the last fiscal year.“ However, when we expressed 450, it is actually in "headcount" not "FTE." We used the expression FTE (Full Time Equivalent or hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis) when we should have used the expression headcount (each individual person counts as one employee whether their appointment is full time or part time) because we believed people would have a clearer association with the word FTE.
To clarify, our data show that between the Oct 2015 census and a preliminary Jan 2017 snapshot, we reduced BOTH staff headcount and FTE:
- Headcount is down by 455
- FTE is down by 283
We do a headcount analysis two times per year, on April 30 and October 31 which reflects when our staff counts are at their highest. Campus has agreed to use the consistent methodology of an official census to avoid confusion over methods and varying numbers. We invite you to investigate Cal Answers to further research our staff counts. Please note that the data that UCOP uses to reflect campus FTE on its Information Center is based on fiscal year and so the timing, and therefore staff counts, differ from what you'll find on Cal Answers. For a further discussion of reporting differences please refer to Our Berkeley.
We are making considerable progress in our efforts to reduce the campus' structural and operational administrative expenses by both measures: headcount or FTE. At the peak in October 2015 our headcount census reflected 9,021 in comparison to 8,447 in October 2017. We acknowledge that our work is not done and we anticipate continued non-academic staff reductions through the next two fiscal years.
The full article from June 26, 2017 is available online.