By SUSAN JONES
The process to request exceptions to Pitt’s hiring freeze, which went into affect on March 10, is taking shape for staff and faculty.
For staff, the jobs that were posted before March 10 have all been reviewed by senior leadership to determine which are deemed essential or operationally critical. Those have been reposted on the Pitt Talent Center website.
The two hiring exceptions for staff are:
Essential Personnel: Roles requiring physical presence to ensure campus safety, address personal health, maintain critical infrastructure, and provide operational support.
Operationally Critical: Roles with an immediate business need essential for maintaining University operations; delivering University services; or complying with federal, state, or local laws and regulations. These positions may be remote or in-person, depending on the nature of the work.
As of March 24, all new essential or operationally critical positions will need to be submitted for review and approval through the new exception form. The forms require approvals from the responsibility center head/dean, the appropriate senior officer/senior vice chancellor, the Office of Human Resources and a member of the Executive Review Committee, which includes representatives for Executive Senior Vice Chancellor Dwayne Pinkney, Provost Joe McCarthy, Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences Anantha Shekhar, and Chancellor Joan Gabel.
Currently, there are 88 staff positions posted, ranging from assistant director of financial aid to groundskeeper, police officer, research technician and senior football analyst. Before the hiring freeze, there were several hundred staff positions posted on the Talent Center.
For faculty, a process has been set up for deans and other responsibility center heads to submit forms to the Office of the Provost or the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences to request an exception to the hiring freeze. The essential needs of each department may differ. Currently, there are only three faculty positions posted on the Talent Center site.
Other issues
Student workers: The Executive Review Committee has decided to exempt student hiring from the freeze, which means departments may proceed with hiring student workers as needed. Students may work no more than 20 hours per week during the fall and spring terms, and 40 hours per week during the summer term.
All-Temps: An extension exception request must be attached to the Pitt Worx transaction for extending All-Temps assignments.
Promotions and off-cycle salary increases: Compensation-related actions will continue to follow established procedures and guidelines as outlined in HR’s Salary Administration Guidelines for Staff. Responsibility centers are being asked to be good fiscal stewards and to carefully analyze these decisions, making sure they stay within the defined guidelines.
Internal candidates: If the job you applied to is deemed to be essential or operationally critical then the recruitment will proceed. Applicants can check the status of any staff, executive, labor union or temporary requisition to which they applied to see if the requisition is still open or has been placed on hold or cancelled, by logging into their candidate account and viewing their submissions.
University employees can visit hr.pitt.edu/hiring-freeze (Pitt sign-on required) to access information about the hiring freeze.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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