After 74 employees accepted the $10,000 retirement incentive in June, Miami University has decided to offer a second round of incentives by Dec. 31.
Carol Hauser, senior director of human resources, said these incentives could be helpful in cutting positions, as well as costs for the university.
Hauser said most money in the university's general fund, which encompasses the employee budget and the $10,000 incentives, comes from tuition.
"Depending on enrollment, we don't know if we have enough students coming in to sustain the staff we have," Hauser said.
Hauser said some of the positions, in which staff may choose to retire, have the option to be left unfilled by a new employee.
"If someone retires and it's a position we don't have to refill, we're losing a position and saving," Hauser said. "Maybe thinking about retiring gives (the employees) incentive to do it and reduces our number of employees if we don't refill the position … it's a win-win for everybody."
David Creamer, vice president of finance and business services and treasurer, said offering a second round of incentives gives the staff an opportunity to participate, but without pressure.
Creamer said this round of incentives will have no direct consequence on the university's budget even if the incentives are not taken.
"(The second round of incentives) increases our flexibility," Creamer said. "There's no added financial consequence for people not participating, we make it very voluntary."
Creamer added if Miami needs to eliminate positions, more positions are available for that purpose.
"We've set the number (of eligible employees) at the maximum," Creamer said. "This process will help us with the budget consequences more."
The retirement incentives have an application process for those eligible. It must be completed by Sept. 15. The incentives are open to 100 people and are selected by seniority.
Hauser said she expects lower numbers than the first round of retirement incentives.
"We think this time we'll have fewer because we already did it once," Hauser said.
The deadline for this round of incentives is Dec. 31, in contrast to the last incentive, which was July 1. Hauser said that means the last day of work must be Dec. 31 or before.
Hauser said eligibility for taking a retirement incentive is set by the state of Ohio.
Employees must meet at least one of the standards - 25 years of public service and 55 years old, 30 years of service, or 60 years old and 5 years of service.
There were 37 applications as of Aug. 27, Hauser said.
No Miami employees were willing to be interviewed about applying for the incentive.
