The budget-strapped UC system decided this week to bring back a program under which eligible employees could voluntarily cut their hours for up to two years.

The Board of Regents' vote on May 15, during a meeting at UCLA, set in motion a 30-day period for public comment on UC Retirement Plan amendments connected to START, short for the Staff and Academic Reduction in Time Program.

Officials said the program, if implemented as planned, would run from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2010.

During this time, eligible part-time and full-time employees could reduce their percentage of time worked from 10 percent to 50 percent (based on full-time status); for as little as one month or as long as the entire two years. Those who participate would not lose any retirement plan credit, vacation or sick leave accrual, or health insurance or other benefits.

On the Davis campus, individual departments and units will decide whether to implement START, said Karen Hull, associate vice chancellor for Human Resources.

"It's up to the management of each organization to determine if and how START can support their workload planning and budget reduction strategies," Hull said.

The UC Davis Health System will not participate, said Gloria Alvarado, the health system's executive director for Human Resources. Most other UC health systems also are not participating, she said.

"Although we believe the program is a valuable one, it has the potential to create patient care service delivery issues, would require us to fill in behind any individual in the program whose absence would affect legally mandated staffing ratios, and could put significant burden on those employees left to do the work of the employees in the program," Alvarado said by e-mail.

Similarly, on the main campus, Hull said, "The structure of some jobs simply may not allow it, while others may."

She said she anticipates that some employees will make their decisions with work-life balance in mind — seeing START as a way to make more time for family life and other personal interests.

Another plus, Hull said, is the flexibility to enroll in START at any time and drop out at any time during the program's two-year run — and people could enroll and drop out a number of times provided their participation meets organizational needs.

This contrasts with the previous START program when employees were given a one-month period to make up their minds.

When UC last offered START, from 2003 to 2006, the university system saw nearly $42 million in payroll savings. Hull could not provide a breakdown of savings for UC Davis, nor could she estimate the savings from the new START program.

However, she said, "I think the unrestricted enrollment period this time around will support broader participation."

Hull described START as "one of many tools that management will need to use" to cut spending. The UC system is looking at a $233.5 million cut in state funds for the 2008-09 budget year that begins July 1; the figure had been nearly $100 million higher, until Gov. Schwarzenegger presented his revised budget proposal on May 14.

UC officials welcomed the revision, but lamented that the governor's budget essentially provides the same amount that the state gave UC a year ago — with nothing extra for enrollment growth, salary increases, inflationary cost increases or investments in high-priority needs such as expanded student mental health care services.

The state budget is far from final — with the May revision now on the table, the governor and Legislature can begin negotiating, though no one is expecting an approved spending plan before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

UC, of course, needs a spending plan before then. So the Board of Regents already is taking steps to cut costs (an estimated $68 million alone in administrative spending) and raise revenue (by approving student fee increases totaling 7.4 percent, effective with 2008 summer sessions).

Meanwhile, the individual campuses are planning their own spending cuts. Before the governor's revised budget came out, UC Davis had begun planning for $17.7 million in permanent funding reductions, and officials said the campus may need twice that amount in one-time reductions to get through 2008-09.

"START is a tool to help managers grapple with the budget reductions in a manner that is less disruptive to service," Hull said."

At the same time, managers will undoubtedly be looking to identify other opportunities to cut costs and become more efficient, Hull said. This will be useful not only to accommodate the loss of work hours to START, but also in the future once hours are restored.

Employees interested in cutting their work hours should talk with their supervisors, Hull said. In all cases, participation would be dependent upon department head approval. Participation by represented employees would be dependent upon agreement by applicable unions.

Time reduction under a START contract could be changed by mutual agreement of the employee and department head, and with 30 days' advance notice. The employee or department head could end a START contract with 30 days' notice.

The regents this week approved one UC Retirement Plan amendment to ensure that START participants would continue accruing service credit as if they had not taken a reduction in work hours. Similarly, even though START participants would receive less pay because of fewer hours worked, their retirement benefits would be calculated as if they had not reduced the percentage of their appointments.

Eligibility would extend to full- and part-time nonprobationary career ("regular status") staff employees and academic appointees, except those in faculty and student academic titles, and postdoctoral scholars.