Thread regarding Harvard University/Harvard College layoffs

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences began its sweeping staff overhaul with a limited first round of layoffs Tuesday, informing only a small number of department and center administrative leaders that their positions would be eliminated.

The Crimson independently confirmed several direct layoffs. FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra wrote in a Tuesday message that “most” administrators were told they would remain in their roles, sometimes with revised responsibilities or reporting lines. Others were given a choice between accepting a new position and being laid off with a decision due July 21, according to one person familiar with the matter.

The relatively narrow first round marked a quiet start to an ambitious restructuring that could ultimately affect up to 25 percent of staff as the school seeks to close a $365 million structural deficit.

Tuesday’s notifications were the first of “several waves” planned over the next four weeks, according to Hoekstra’s message.

The restructuring plan, developed with help from consulting firm McKinsey & Company, reorganizes the FAS from the top down. At least four McKinsey consultants are still involved in the process, according to a person familiar with the matter.

FAS spokesperson James M. Chisholm declined to comment on the specifics of the layoffs.

Under the new structure, some administrators who previously supported individual academic units will be replaced by staff overseeing clusters of departments and centers with shared administrative functions. The Tuesday meetings took place just days after the FAS named three senior “managing directors of department and center administration” to help oversee the new model.

According to two people familiar with the situation, employees who were laid off were told that their positions would end in mid-September — roughly 60 days after the notifications — and that new roles would be posted for internal applicants.

Nicole Breen, the FAS’ new chief human resources officer, notified department administrators and center directors of the meetings in an encrypted Monday message that disabled forwarding.

Breen’s message said the meetings could include FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petrofsky; Associate Dean for Administrative Operations Mary Anne Bradley; Katherine Gates, Petrofsky’s chief of staff; or the employee’s divisional administrative dean.

The FAS eliminated its three divisional administrative dean positions earlier this spring, though at least one of the deans told employees that she would remain to help with the transition.

Hoekstra also looped department chairs into the process Monday, forwarding Breen’s message and telling them that they would learn the outcome for their department administrator by late Tuesday.

“Our staff community is understandably anxious to know more about the timeline for full transition to the new model. We will communicate broadly with all FAS staff and faculty following these conversations to share what has happened and what comes next,” Hoekstra wrote.