By Neil Offen

noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646

DURHAM -- Duke University will offer retirement buyout packages to nearly 200 more employees as it continues to look for ways to cut its budget.

The offers, which will be mailed out Friday, will go to 198 monthly salaried employees on the university's defined contribution plan who have met a number of criteria.

Those benchmarks include the "Rule of 75" -- that is, the employee's age plus years of service must total 75 or more by the end of the year -- and no more than 50 percent of the position can be funded from a grant or contract.

As well, the position held by the staffer must have been identified by an administrator as eligible for possible elimination or restructuring.

"We're shooting at a number of targets with this strategy," said Kyle Cavanaugh, Duke's vice president of human resources. "We're trying to reduce the size of the work force in a way we can continue to meet the primary missions of the university, education, teaching and service."

If an employee accepts the retirement package offer, Cavanaugh added, "it would provide us with an opportunity to do a number of things -- potentially not replace the position or allow us to restructure the organization a little differently. It might provide opportunities to look at the way we provide services in a different way."

The new buyouts follow offers over the summer for early retirement to biweekly salaried employees -- generally at the lower end of the pay scale -- who were on the university's defined benefit retirement program. Of the 825 employees who were eligible for that initial buyout, 294, or around 35 percent, accepted.

That was a much higher percentage than officials had expected.

"If we had anywhere near that response rate [for the new offer] we would be thrilled," Cavanaugh said. "Our expectation, though is that the response rate will be around 20 percent, and that's what we're aiming for."

The earlier buyout, along with freezing empty positions and eliminating raises, has resulted in Duke's saving the equivalent of 400 full-time positions, Cavanaugh said.

The moves have been necessary because personnel makes up about 60 percent of the university's budget. In response to declines in major gifts and a shrinking endowment, Duke has committed itself to trimming $125 from its $2 billion operating budget over the next three years.

Those employees receiving the new buyout package will have until Dec. 8 to make their decisions, and then would have an additional week to rescind those decisions if they change their minds.