When Donnie Riley received a letter last Wednesday from Health System officials informing him that his job was going to be eliminated, not only was he worried, he was stunned.
"When I got the letter, I was immediately thinking, 'Where will I go next? What will I do next?'" said Riley, who has worked in Duke Hospital as a patient and visitor assistant for the last six months.
Ninety-three other Hospital employees received similar letters last week as part of a 170-position cutback designed to improve efficiency and keep the Medical Center financially secure. Riley and the others were not laid off, and they will be offered other jobs within the Health System by May 1. Many of the jobs to which people will move are currently covered by the use of overtime, temporary employees or contract labor.
The affected employees do not provide direct patient care, and they range from information desk operators to top-level senior administrators, Hospital CEO Michael Israel said last week. The Hospital also eliminated 76 vacant positions. The cuts will account for 2.8 percent of the 6,000 support personnel jobs and will save Duke about $7 million annually.
All 94 employees have been paired with transition coordinators from the human resources office to help them decide on their options. Officials stress that these employees will have opportunities for job training or will be moved to comparable jobs-defined as having a salary within 10 percent of their previous pay base.
However, Riley claims that the jobs he has been offered through Human Resources have either been previously frozen or eliminated due to the recent cuts. "I feel like Duke owes us the courtesy to provide us a list of jobs that are available and not a list of ones that aren't," Riley said.
Hospital officials said they were looking into Riley's case and that in general, they expect to successfully reassign everyone. "We're pretty optimistic since we've looked at all the positions we need to accommodate and the jobs that are available look like good matches," said Deborah Horvitz, director of communications for Human Resources.
Still, some employees have expressed disappointment with the Hospital's recent decision. One woman, who asked to remain unidentified, is a manager who has worked in the system for more than 25 years but will have to find a new position by May.
"I figure that when you've been working with [the Hospital] for so long, you feel secure and know how to do what you've been doing for so long. You feel okay, like you can make it to retirement. Now this [job elimination] makes you wonder if they really care about their employees enough to take care of them," she said.
Brenda Nevidjon, chief operating officer of the Hospital, said the decision was quite difficult. "This cut has to do with positions and not the people and I didn't like being in the position to make the decision," she said.
Most employees, including Riley, stressed that their current judgments may be a bit premature.
"It's too early to tell [what impact this elimination will have] since it takes time for progress," said one worker who did not wish to be named.
However, come May 1, Riley wants to be sure he has a stable position, even if it is unfamiliar. "I want a job where I feel comfortable and secure, in an area compatible to what I'm doing now," he said. "I feel like [Hospital officials] promised to work with us and promises should be kept."
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