Furloughs and hiring freezes: WSU Vancouver employees adapt to new circumstances

As employees are furloughed, stuck in hiring freezes or working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some WSU Vancouver staff and faculty face uncertainty with how they will continue operations through the fall semester.  

Student-run organizations such as Koug Radio have suffered the brunt of the university’s hiring freeze, which at this time is still unable to hire new employees needed to support the station. With only two employees on staff, Koug Radio now has several vacant employment options open including music programmer, technical director and digital producer. Despite the need for recruitment, Koug Radio claims they are still waiting for hiring approval. 

Jessica Jones, Koug Radio’s new station manager and senior psychology major, has entered the station’s environment with limited access to the recording studio for training. While Koug Radio’s studio remains closed, staff and DJs have lost access to recording equipment and can no longer continue streaming their shows on the station. Jones has had the opportunity to work from home, but faces many challenges with the transition to teleworking.

“We have been managing, mostly doing planning, trying to figure out ways to keep students involved when we get back on campus. … I think the biggest setback has been, even with our social media [account], we do not get a lot of interaction considering a lot of our listeners are on campus,” Jones said. 

Emily Antos, senior personnel psychology/human resources major and Koug Radio’s public relations manager, utilizes the station’s social media platforms to reach out to students and listeners alike. Antos explained she and Jones have been working to find new ways of engaging with the WSU Vancouver community, posing new future opportunities for what the station may look like this upcoming semester. 

“Some of our ideas include online [or] virtual events and social media live streams. Due to not being able to get into the studio, we can’t have any DJs run their shows at this time, but we are looking into inviting DJs to do Instagram takeovers to promote their shows. While it is not quite as fun as working in the studio, we hope that this helps DJs feel welcomed and loved by our station. I am looking forward to what we have in store,” Antos said.

Both Jones and Antos have been successfully working from home and Koug Radio has been paid regularly for maintaining the station and planning virtual events.

The cafeteria on campus has also had to lock up its doors due to the shutdown, and many student and staff employees were furloughed and granted a temporary leave of absence. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, a furlough is a temporary leave of absence from which the employee is expected to return to work full-time or with reduced hours. Despite his efforts to maintain a socially distanced environment to promote the health and safety of students, food service manager, Brad Havist, was asked to shut the cafeteria’s doors back in March.

“After we closed, we talked about where I would need barriers for cash registers [and] ordering. … Our thought was it was going to open back up so we organized food, we froze what we could, we spent the next three weeks cleaning every piece of equipment, just doing a deep clean,” Havist said.

Havist has been in the foodservice industry for over 45 years and said he was worried about his future. He also explained he would have to search for a new job until the cafeteria has the potential to safely reopen. 

“[Foodservice] is not much of an industry anymore, so I am very concerned about my future. …  I would like to come back, if and when it opens. I understand the university’s decision because there is nobody here, but when people come back I think it is important to the students and faculty and staff that there is an alternative place to eat,” Havist said.

Havist was unsure of the cafeteria’s future too, and finds it unlikely that their services will be available or back to normal, even with limited capacity. He said he has not heard much correspondence from other cafeteria employees, and is waiting patiently for the cafeteria to reopen once again. 

Director of Human Resources Julia Getchell stated campus is still technically open for business, but looks and functions differently than before. That includes a major shift from in-person to online jobs as student, staff and faculty employees continue to telework with few exceptions. 

“Since March… most of the buildings on campus have been closed, so we have had what we call essential employees showing up every day. … Those are folks like in the facility services that we need to continue to service buildings, respond to emergencies, make sure that the grass is mowed and the paths are paved. … By and large, everyone else who can telework [have] been teleworking.” 

As for other operations on campus, she explained the only two services that will continue to be inactive during fall semester are the cafeteria and the child development program.

While the university will continue to be fueled by its essential staff this fall, many employees at WSU Vancouver are questioning what the future may look like in terms of their positions and resuming operations. For more information on WSU furloughs and workforce impact policies and procedures, click the link here.