UNC overhauls approach to comms, finance, IT, HR. What we know and what we don’t
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- ServiceFirst targets six administrative functions via a shared-services model.
- Board seeks $25M annual savings; ServiceFirst currently leans on attrition.
- Staff worry about job impacts, loss of specialized support and possible outsourcing.
In the name of efficiency and reduced spending, UNC-Chapel Hill is restructuring its approach to key administrative functions. The school is taking services once housed in individual departments and schools and creating an overarching, shared-services model.
But some staff members say there’s been a lack of clarity, and that they are deeply concerned about what it means for their jobs and departments.
As an example: The Hussman School of Journalism has four people in its IT department. But under the new model, the Hussman School won’t have a dedicated IT department, but rather share one with six other schools. So some employees are wondering: Does that mean all four Hussman staffers will lose their jobs, or just a few of them, or none? How will this be decided? Will the shared IT service be able to respond to the specific technological needs of broadcast and audio journalists?
Some of this is unclear, but here’s what we know as Phase One of the initiative — dubbed ServiceFirst — gets underway.
How much will ServiceFirst save, and how?
The university’s Board of Trustees wants to save $25 million in annual administrative spending by the end of the fiscal year in June. ServiceFirst will serve as the “primary operational vehicle for achieving these reductions,” according to a resolution passed at the January board meeting. The initiative is led by Scott Savage, associate vice chancellor for organizational strategy and performance. He’s been in that role nearly one year.
ServiceFirst targets six administrative functions: finance, procurement, human resources, information technology services, communications and research administration. The first phase, which Savage hopes to implement by April, targets IT and communications. By late February or early March, Savage plans to start having unit-level discussions on how employees in those fields will be impacted, according to an update on the university’s website.
Some schools are keeping separate services in certain areas. For example, the School of Business will continue to have in-house teams for IT, HR, finance, and procurement, but switch to a shared-service model for communications and research administration. The only school not affected at all by ServiceFirst is the School of Medicine.
How do staff feel about it?
University staff isn’t staying quiet about their confusion and anger regarding ServiceFirst. At a recent listening session held by the Employee Forum, staff got a chance to voice those feelings.
Many shared the concern that because each school and department is so specialized, taking these roles out of the department and into a shared-service model will result in a loss of institutional knowledge and effectiveness. Specialized support for faculty and staff will erode, and the individual strengths of employees will be homogenized and diluted, attendees said.
“These are teams that are super highly specialized,” said one attendee. “The thought that you’re going to take these teams and smoosh them together and have everybody know how to do all the things, that is not feasible.”
But according to Savage, “many roles will remain focused on the same type of work they’re doing today, but within a structure that provides clearer service ownership, better workload balance and backup support, more consistent processes and tools and stronger career pathways.”
Some employees said the university is being intentionally vague about ServiceFirst in order to avoid scrutiny. At a meeting of the university’s Employee Executive Committee, Natiaya Neal, a business officer in the Gillings School of Public Health, said there’s been an “erosion of trust due to a perceived withholding of information.”
The union UE Local 150 passed out pamphlets to attendees after the listening session. The Workers’ Guide to ServiceFirst — featuring a cartoon of a cash-grabbing UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts — accuses the administration of “selling the university for parts” and calls the initiative “secretive.”
How will headcount change?
For now, the main strategy ServiceFirst is using to reduce costs is attrition, meaning not filling vacant positions. Layoffs are referred to as a “last resort.”
The impact of the university’s focus on administrative attrition is already reverberating across the university. There was a net reduction of 295 staff positions and $19.4 million in payroll in the second half of 2025, according to a presentation given by the Employee Executive Committee on Tuesday.
Though it’s not mentioned in the university’s description of ServiceFirst, some employees worry that the university will outsource some of these administrative functions, relying on third-party companies to handle things that are now done in-house. The union points to the bookstore, catering, and online graduate programs as places where corporate outsourcing has already happened.
What’s next?
The first phase of ServiceFirst is underway. The second phase — which will restructure finance, procurement, research administration and human resources — is targeted for July. Savage is also considering including some academic functions, like advising, career services and the registrar.
Student services are also going through a restructuring and centralizing process, in a separate project unrelated to ServiceFirst.
