Northwestern University is reportedly offering about 4,000 staff members buyouts and hopes that 150 to 200 workers will accept the deal designed to reduce the school’s costs as it copes with the financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chicago Business reports the buyout program is in addition to 250 workers the school recenlty furloughed.
Faculty are excluded from the buyout program. Staff members will have until the end of the month to apply for the program and it will be mid-July before how it will be known how many buyouts were approved, an NU spokesman told the paper.
The spokesman said the program is designed to manage staffing levels in expectation of reduced revenues and reduce the possibility of further furloughs or involuntary layoffs.