Back See this section in context: Criterion 2 Core Component 2B

2B.7: Effective Use of Human Resources

Since 2005, Sauk has actively analyzed its employment practices and has taken steps to better utilize employees while reducing employee expense:

• Evaluation of positions: Each position that becomes vacant is analyzed by PC, with input from the supervising administrator, to determine if the position should be filled; if it should be eliminated and its duties added to an existing position; or if the position should be expanded to assume additional responsibilities:
  • Combining or cutting certain existing positions: In 2007, after the Activities Director position was eliminated, responsibility for student clubs and organizations was absorbed by Student Services staff. In 2010, the positions of Recruiter, Partnership for College and Career Success Coordinator, and High School Relations coordinator were combined into one position: High School Liaison.
  • Reclassifying certain positions to lower levels: Upon review, four of the 22 administrative positions, including the Director of the Learning Resource Center and Director of Admissions were reclassified as professional/technical, and six of the eight non-teaching faculty positions were also reclassified as professional/technical, including the Learning Assistance Center Coordinator and most of the counseling positions.
  • Increased use of part-time employees: Sauk has increased its reliance on part-time employees by reducing the number of full-time employees by 14% and increasing the number of part-time employees by 41%. This change is seen in most job classifications. (See Figure 2iv below.)

  	Teaching Faculty		Non-Teaching Faculty		Administration		Professional/ Technical		Support Staff		Totals
  	FT	Adj	FT	PT	FT	PT	FT	PT	FT	PT	FT	PT
  FY01	55	84	8	0	20	2	23	9	46	11	152	106
  FY11	45	108	2	0	15	0	29	25	40	16	131	149
  Change	-18%	+29%	-75%	---	-25%	-100%	+26%	+178%	-13%	+45%	-14%	+41%

  Source: Sauk Human Resources Office

• Faculty deployment: With diminished numbers of full-time employees in all job classifications, Sauk uses multiple approaches aimed at efficient and effective deployment of its teaching faculty:
  • Multi-disciplinary faculty: In an effort to increase flexibility in making teaching assignments, Sauk employs 13 faculty qualified to teach in multiple areas. They are sought for disciplines without enough demand for a full-time teaching load and usually paired with qualification in an area with high enrollment and numerous class offerings (for example, Humanities/English; Math/Philosophy).
  • More adjunct faculty: Sauk has increased its reliance on adjunct faculty by increasing the number of adjunct faculty by 29% while reducing the number of full-time teaching faculty by 18%. Some vacant full-time faculty positions were not filled or were changed to adjunct due to declining program enrollments. However, the college still maintains a higher proportion of full-time faculty, based on FTE, than its peer institutions and the state averages (see Figure 2v).
  • Larger class sizes: The number of courses taught and the total number of credit hours taught by full-time faculty have decreased over the last five years (53% to 45% of total courses and 64% to 55% total credit hours). While most of the total credit load has been picked up by adding adjunct faculty, the full-time faculty is averaging higher total number of student credit hours per semester, increased from 263 in FY04 to 292 credit hours in FY08, indicating that faculty today tend to have larger class sizes than they did in the past.

  	Full-time FTE	Full-time FTE % of total	Part-time FTE	Part-time FTE % of total	Total FTE
  Sauk	44	56%	34	44%	78
  Peer medians*	47	53%	39.5	47%	92.5
  State Average	4,721	43%	6,348	57%	11,069

  Source: ICCB 2010 Databook
  *A set of Illinois community colleges with similar financial base and size.

• Effective use of technology: Sauk looks for ways that technology can be used to accomplish tasks more efficiently to help reduce labor costs. For example, in its Operational Plan, Human Resources researched the expenses of tracking job applicants on paper with the costs of using a digital system and produced a budget recommendation to purchase an online system. In January 2009, a digital applicant tracking system was put in place. Based on follow-up data, the Human Resources Office is expending fewer staff hours processing applications, saving the expense of photocopying applications for screening committees, and has reduced the mailing expense of correspondence with applicants. In some other cases, technology has not successfully reduced workloads: for example, online registration has not reduced the number of staff required.
• Compensatory time in place of overtime: The use of overtime for handling fluctuating workload demands has been mostly replaced by the option of compensatory time for employees who work additional hours. During FY10 for example, only $12,000 in overtime was paid. Of that amount, 59% was paid to buildings and grounds personnel, including snow removal and security. The remaining 41% was paid to support staff from departments throughout the college. Supervisor approval is required prior to any overtime or compensatory work.