Cashier’s office makes four layoffs

Monday, August 3, 1998

Cashier’s office makes four layoffs

ASUCLA: Savings of $150,000 expected from terminations

By Neal Narahara

Daily Bruin Contributor

A meeting had been scheduled for July 14 at 10 a.m., to notify
four employees in the ASUCLA Main Cashier’s Office (MCO) that they
had been terminated.

Unfortunately, two called in sick, and one was out of town. Only
one person was around that morning to hear the bad news in
person.

"It’s never easy to lay somebody off," says Alison Wilcox, the
business service director of ASUCLA.

Wilcox, who has authority over the office, was responsible for
telling the employees that they were terminated in the latest move
by ASUCLA to reach financial solvency.

Of the four laid off, one was a supervisor and three were
cashiers. Three career employees remain in the office.

The layoffs translate into a savings of $150,000 a year from
wages and benefits.

Also, $200,000 that was previously tied up in the MCO while
being counted is now available to be put in a bank to earn
interest.

"I’m really proud of these changes," said Patricia Eastman,
executive director of ASUCLA. "It’s a classic example of
streamlining an inefficient process."

Before the changes, the MCO centralized the handling of cash
from all ASUCLA retail and food service operations on campus. In
the past, cashiers in the office double-checked the cash count from
all the registers, prepared bank deposits and made change for the
following day.

"We eliminated work that didn’t need to be done," Eastman
said.

The MCO now has a shorter business day and is open five days a
week instead of six.

Now, employees closing down their registers have to count and
check the money in addition to making their own change fund for the
next day.

"Although it takes a little bit longer, it’s not a lot longer,"
said Gabe Aceves, a supervisor at Cooperage Pizza.

He estimates the changes create an extra ten minutes of
work.

"It’s just part of the job," he said.

ASUCLA is in the process of recovering from near-bankruptcy in
1995. Its current insolvency is blamed in part on past
mismanagement.

Although the downsizing of the MCO is the biggest cut in recent
years, it is indicative of a larger trend.

ASUCLA eliminated the food service director position last year,
delegating that responsibility to the executive director. Cutting
the food service director saved $80,000 in wages and benefits.

Despite the economic benefits of this change, the negative
impact on the workers’ lives has not been completely lost amongst
the numbers.

"It’s a terrible thing in a way" said James Friedman, graduate
member of ASUCLA’s student-majority Board of Directors.

"The people have lives and families. On the other hand, you
can’t run your business into the ground."

A task force was first formed in May to look into downsizing the
MCO. Keith Schoen, the director of the ASUCLA distribution center,
led the task force. During the investigation, Schoen worked closely
with Wilcox to determine which cuts should be made.

"(The layoffs) had nothing to do with work performance," Wilcox
said. "The staff in the Main Cashier’s Office did an excellent
job."

The remaining employees in the MCO did not feel comfortable
commenting about their co-workers’ dismissal.

One of the workers laid off had worked for ASUCLA for 8
years.

The former employees will continue on paid status for 30 days
beyond their July 14 dismissal with full wages and benefits. After
this period, they will receive one week’s severance pay for every
year they were employed at ASUCLA.

ASUCLA Human Resources will also assist them in finding new
jobs.

"To my knowledge, nobody has been placed (into another job),"
said Sally Amato-Rogers, director of ASUCLA Human Resources.

"In a normal job search, if you find anything within 30 days,
you’re doing really well," she said.