Jobs gone at Uni Melbourne with a nervous wait for other staff

209 people are accepted for voluntary redundancy

VC Duncan Maskell yesterday told the university community that “valued friends and colleagues will be leaving the university by the end of this year. “

The savings the departures will deliver mean COVID-19 caused involuntary redundancies will be “minimised,” Professor Maskell said.

And there may be more voluntary departures to come. The VC says Uni Melbourne is talking to the Australian Tax Office about its proposed “senior academic enhanced retirement scheme.” The university was not adding to this yesterday but CMM suspects it has to do with a different tax treatment of redundancies for people over retirement age.

Professor Maskell also advised the professional services redesign rolls on, with former consultation commencing. There will be individual discussions through to December 18 with staff whose roles “would be directly affected” in finance, data & reporting, occupational health and safety, facilities management, research outputs and post-award finance support. Changes will be announcedearly in the new year.”

“I know that it will be difficult for some of you to wait until the new year for an update. “However, delaying the programme deeper in to 2021 would set us back as we work to implement changes as soon as possible in the new year to protect the university for the future,” he said.