Oxford University to introduce recruitment freeze amid coronavirus pandemic

Oxford University will introduce a recruitment freeze as a temporary staffing strategy, in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The university, which employs around 15,000 people, is also planning to redeploy staff. The sector-wide crisis has caused the university to halt recruitment procedures for a year.

Vice-chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said they are test piloting the government’s furlough scheme for some workers. 

In a staff email, Professor Richardson acknowledged that the plans moving forward “will be disappointing for some of the staff and will require the postponement of long-held plans”.

With the move to implement a year-long recruitment freeze, she also warned “they may not suffice to address the scale of the challenge” faced by the uncertain financial landscape.

We can be confident that with careful planning and by working together, we will make our way through this crisis and emerge with a university even better placed to pursue our mission of research, teaching and contributing to the world around us

– Louise Richardson

Staff who have caring responsibilities will be furloughed on full pay. Furloughed staff also include those working in university facilities, such as libraries and museums that have been closed due to the coronavirus.

Professor Richardson commented: “We can be confident that with careful planning and by working together, we will make our way through this crisis and emerge with a university even better placed to pursue our mission of research, teaching and contributing to the world around us.”

The final term of the current academic year is set to be “unlike any other”, according to Professor Richardson. Most students will not return after leaving Oxford for the Easter Break in March.

Earlier this month, British universities said they needed £2 billion in aid to lessen the prospect of “financial failure” and in some cases total collapse.