6.16.21: Important Update: Staff Hiring and Position Re-evaluation Freeze Ends July 1, 2021

The central theses:
• Effective July 1, 2021, Lehigh will lift restrictions on hiring and re-evaluating positions
• Teams looking to fill vacancies should review the job description to ensure that it still meets their needs
• The hiring of employees and the reassessment of the position are initiated by the superior directly in the Page Up Talent Management System
• The temporary freeze on the Spot Bonus and Tradition of Excellence awards will also be lifted

Dear colleague:

As you know, as part of a series of pandemic-related cost-cutting measures at Lehigh in the spring of 2020, the university frozen the recruitment and reassessment of staff positions. During this time, the approval of top management was required to hire or reassess a position. The bonus programs Spot Bonus and Tradition of Excellence have also been temporarily suspended.

We are pleased to announce that we expect to meet our admission targets for Class 2025 and, with growing optimism about the course of the pandemic, will lift our hiring and re-evaluation freezes from July 1, 2021. The Spot Bonus and Tradition of Excellence awards will also be reintroduced. These changes come in addition to the previously announced resumption of employer contributions to old-age provision and benefit increases.

As we are lifting the hiring restrictions, we are asking teams looking to fill vacancies to review the job description for each vacancy to ensure that the position continues to meet the needs of their department. We would also like to remind you that the processes for hiring employees and for reassessing positions are initiated by the manager directly in our Page Up Talent Management System. The Talent Management Team Human Resources is there to advise you in this process.

The Spot Bonus and Tradition of Excellence programs have long been an opportunity to reward employees with exceptional performance. The criteria and the procedure for nominations remain unchanged and can be viewed here.

As we return to fully active campus life, some offices will remain understaffed while others may be flooded with inquiries. We ask everyone to be considerate during the changeover.

With best regards,

Nathan Urban
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Patricia Johnson
Vice President for Finance and Administration