I was asked to apply for a job a couple days ago. I turned it down. I want a full time job, but .... This was a tough call, but I think it's the right one.
Here's The Back Drop
It's not in the papers anywhere, but last Monday, this for profit school that bought over 10 campuses from bankrupt Anthem Colleges, (dba Florida Career College) announced to their Miami campus staff that they were moving toward 90% part time staffing in all positions. Effective immediately, almost all new hires will be for 20 hour week positions. Part time admissions reps, part time financial aid, part time everything. The entire campus is reeling. For now the full-timers are "safe" whatever that means. It turns out taking over a bankrupt school is more difficult than they anticipated. They laid off about 150 people last year, wiped out all PTO when they took over and renegotiated all vendor contracts there isn't much more that can be cut. Maybe it's a combination of factors from being asked to refund the $350,000 Anthem conned out of the State of Florida and City of Ft. Lauderdale, or maybe it's lackluster new enrollments due to a sluggishly improving economy or the horrendous student reviews they are getting, but apparently it's more difficult to make money with the for-profit college business model these days.
Making more profits by avoiding paying benefits packages is old news. Doing it on the backs of the employees that turn out your work product is what corporate life is these days. Expanding part time staffing from the academic staff to career services, financial aid, IT techs and registrar employees is relatively new. I don't see it working well. For profit education already has exploitation problems. Making everyone part-time won't improve that scenario. Having a campus full of part time employees with only a few full time supervisors will be awful for campus supervisors. It won't serve the students very well either.
If it works out (for IEC, not the employees), this policy will likely be rolled out to the rest of the campuses, too. The Academic Dean (Director of Education) at a nearby campus gave her 2 week notice last week because she's had enough. She and her husband wanted to retire in a couple years. Rather than deal with this new circus, she's packing it in early. In her words, "This job used to be both gratifying and enjoyable. Now,..... I just want out. I used to feel good about turning out successful students." Another good friend who used to teach future medical assistants lab skills before they made her a "Team Leader" and now is always under at least 2 feet of paperwork, is actively looking for a medical billing and coding job at a hospital. Yet, another friend who was a good Career Services rep who was constantly pressured to falsify his paperwork (but wouldn't), sold everything and emigrated to Australia while he was out on medical leave.