2. 2
State University of New York (SUNY) at Upstate
(Syracuse, NY)
Distinguished Faculty Recognition Program
(DFRP)
Purpose was to identify and reach out to long
term tenure faculty who met eligibility criteria
allowing the University to RECOGNIZE their long
service as a bridge to retirement
3. 3
DFRP Highlights
•Required Campus President and Executive
Team approval of enrollment criteria and
review of eligible faculty roster
•Reviewed by University Counsel’s Office and
SUNY Central Office
•Authorization by Dean and presentation to
faculty chairs
•Notice to faculty local union leadership
4. 4
DFRP Highlights
VOLUNTARY Participation in DFRP
provided for:
• Option of either a full-time 6-month leave OR a ½ time equivalent
12-month leave for which full pay would be provided and all
benefits maintained
•An additional bonus payable throughout duration of leave
•Submission of irrevocable letter of resignation to be effective at the
end of the selected leave
•Emeritus appointment provided at the end of leave for faculty in
“good standing”
5. 5
DFRP Highlights
Eligibility Criteria included:
•Current NYS (SUNY) faculty with permanent
appointment;
•Minimum of 25 or more years of SUNY Upstate
full-time and/or equivalent part-time service;
•Must not had previously retired or have current or
pending disciplinary action (including imposed
settlement agreement);
•Excluded chairs, librarians, & Management
Confidential appointments.
6. 6
“ANATOMY” OF THE SUCCESSFUL
DFRP
THE FEET (movement)
Encourage eligible faculty to:
• participate/enroll in the one-time DFRP and agree on a
time line for leave/retirement
• call to set up appointments with Human Resources,
SUNY ORP investment providers (TIAA-CREF), Social
Security, etc.
• discuss with colleagues, departmental chair, and union
leadership
•ask questions, and more questions, and still additional
questions
7. 7
“ANATOMY” OF THE SUCCESSFUL
DRFP
THE HEAD (processing)
•Adequate explanation and notice of the DFRP
•Understanding the advantages associated with the DFRP
•Meet one-on-one with faculty
•Comprehension of retirement plan options and other
retiree benefits (i.e. retiree health insurance)
•Emeritus status appointment
8. 8
“ANATOMY” OF THE SUCCESSFUL
DFRP
THE HEART (emotional commitment)
Getting eligible faculty to:
•Confidently move to the next phase of their professional
career (it’s not necessarily about the money)
•Settle their emotions that retirement is just the beginning
•Sign off on their voluntary enrollment
•Feel comfortable with their decision
•Trust in the integrity of the program
9. 9
POINTS OF INTEREST
THE “NUMBERS”
The SUNY DFRP included:
•61 eligible faculty from 13 different departments
•HR-Benefits Office held over 30 individual meetings during the
three-month open enrollment period that included discussion with
financial planners, TIAA-CREF investment providers reps. as well
as spouses and adult children of faculty members
•15 faculty from 8 different depts. voluntarily (approx. 25 %)
elected to participate in this one-time program
• 7 out of 25 elected a 6 month continuous leave with the remaining 8 out
of 25 elected the 12 month ½ time leave
10. 10
POINTS OF INTEREST
THE “NUMBERS”CONTINUED
•15 eligible faculty members who elected to participate in the
DFRP had a combined years of service of 547 years of service with
5 members having over 40 years of service
•Average annual salary for all 15 faculty members was $142,000
•Projected university savings (NOT including benefits-51% fringe
rate) is estimated at over $2.129 million dollars subsequent to the
last retirement date
11. 11
POINTS OF INTEREST
•Met with one eligible faculty member 6 separate times during
the open enrollment period
•All qualified for a service retirement as a member of a
retirement system administered by New York State which
provides for retiree health insurance at the end of the
designated leave
•Provided the President’s Executive Team with on-going
updates regarding enrollment activity
•Worked directly with department chairs to secure terms of
emeritus status and leave time frame arrangements
•Pre-scheduled retirement benefits sign up date prior to end
of Leave
•Assist enrollees to add to or open a supplemental retirement
savings plan (i.e. 403b) to defer taxes on bonus
Editor's Notes
The State University of New York (SUNY) at Syracuse is one of 64 campuses spread throughout NYS. Upstate is one of 3 medical colleges within the SUNY System that includes a level one trauma center designations as well a state-of-the art research center.
You may say that Upstate mission embodies most of the “disciplines” that TIAA-CREF serve…we are a governmental non-for-profit university that is first and foremost an academic/education center that provides critical health care that is involved in medical research. The only area of interest that we are not necessarily involved in is the cultural aspect which is where I come in!
Upstate’s DFRP (that we fondly called it) was designed to be a voluntary recognition program that provided qualifying tenure faculty in our medical and basic science colleges the opportunity to participate in a “Phased Retirement” Program (as opposed to an early retirement incentive).
As with many universities and colleges, Upstate was in need of reducing it’s costs and the HR dept. was charted with implementing a plan that could reduce labor expenses and a way to accomplish such was by “bridging” the higher paid faculty to retirement.
The one thing we had learned in HR thru speaking and interacting with long term faculty is that they do nothing without great thought, analysis, and require an extended period of time when making important decisions;.
Therefore the reason to develop the DFRP in a way that allowed faculty adequate time to contemplate this program and to “ease into” the next phase of their career while simultaneously providing them with a ONE-TIME financial/non-financial rewards pursuant to the University’s BOT Policies.
Since Upstate had never implemented a local recognition/incentive program, we thoroughly investigated the legal requirements, as well as the financial and operational impact the DFRP would have on the university.
We ensured (based on the ADEA ) that we were compliant with the following criteria without age being a factor:
PARTICIPATION WAS VOLUNTARY
ELIGIBILTY LIMITED TO ACTIVE PERMANENT FACULTY
MAINTAINED BENEFITS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
The main premise when developing the DFRP was to make it simple to understand while providing options that would be attractive to the broad spectrum of eligible faculty members.
Eligible faculty must have declared their enrollment in the DRFP by 12/31/12, and were required to begin their designated leave no later than 2/1/13 (which is when most of the faculty started their paid leave).
The following is the basis for which we determined faculty eligibility that provided Upstate with an adequate number of highly compensated faculty who could participate.
The following slides outline the “anatomy” of the DFRP to accomplish the goal of reducing payroll/labor costs.
As a medical university, I thought it would be appropriately to use the analogy of the human body.
While the concept of phasing into retirement is very much an emotional decision for faculty, they needed to be able to get “their head around” the parameters of the DFRP.
Once they understood the “nuts and bots” of the program they could then move to the heart issues they ultimately all struggled with.
The primary component at this point in the decision making process for faculty was to get them to “feel comfortable” with this life changing decision.
The key was to ensure they believed in the integrity of the program and trusted that what was being presented as the benefits of the recognition program was compatible with their comfort level.
These numbers illustrate the success of this program.
When we first reviewed the list of eligible faculty and announced the DFRP we were hopefully if we could get 5-7 enrollees.
However, after a few faculty came in to review the program with HR and went back to their departments to discuss the DFRP with their colleagues, we received many more calls and there was a “snowball affect”.
While 15 participants may not sound like a big deal, since we never offered such an incentive before and had no plans of re-offering , we were pleasantly surprised when we exceed our initial expectations.
Here is where the savings were recognized. ( POSTED AGAINST $375,000 IN BOUNUS PAY OFFS)
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
