The reshuffling of the iSolutions team that was proposed in October has instead been postponed due to coronavirus.
The reshuffling was due to cause a large number of redundancies, with this move also being paused. The University and College Union (UCU) and the University of Southampton have postponed this for at least another three months.
Interim Chief Operating Officer, Richard Middleton, commented on the ‘exceptional times’:
It is of vital importance we do everything we can to support our staff through this uncertainty whilst also protecting our day to day activities. iSolutions are playing a key role in supporting our community as part of the transition to remote working.
Similarly, Mal Allerton, Executive Director of iSolutions, said:
We are pleased to have been able to work with UCU to agree a solution which protects our impacted colleagues during this time and also allows the directorate to move forward with the changes required for us to operate more effectively. Although this is a difficult time, it is also a great opportunity for us as a department as our staff and students begin to use new software, gain important new skills, and discover new ways of working digitally. I would like to thank my entire team for their understanding and continued dedication.
Meanwhile, Moray McAulay, UCU Regional Official for the Southern Region, said that they are ‘pleased’ about the positive response from the university regarding UCU’s requests to postpone the redundancies. McAulay continues by explaining they will be using this time to work with the university to see if they can try another option other than redundancy, such as redeployment in other areas.
