A social report largely unaffected by the health crisis
The upheavals of 2020 ultimately had little impact on the social report, whose data remains generally stable. The reason? The institution’s unwavering commitment to its public service mission. Bruno Fabre, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, provides an overview of this report prepared by the University’s departments and services, foremost among them the Human Resources Department.
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“2020 was a very unusual year for everyone, and yet the University continued to operate and fulfill its public service mission, even during the most difficult moments of this health crisis,” begins Bruno Fabre, vice-chair of the UM Board of Trustees. And as if to confirm this observation, he once again reviews the 239 pages of the social report, which ultimately reveals a high degree of consistency in the figures.
The University’s total workforce remains at around 4,890 employees, representing an expenditure equivalent to 80% of the University’s operating budget.“The payroll is our primary resource, because the function of a university is to produce intellectual capital from intellectual capital,” emphasizes Bruno Fabre. The breakdown of the payroll by staff category also remains extremely stable compared to 2019, with 80.6% of tenured faculty, including 57%Professors researchers, and approximately 17% contract staff across all categories.
New hires
A new feature of this 2020 social report is the inclusion in the UM’s workforce of staff working for the CFA,the INSPE, and the CSU. These entities were supported by the COMUE until the implementation of the new campus policy on January1, 2020. The approximately 3,000 staff members housed at the UM also appear in the social report for the first time. Although not paid by the UM but housed in its laboratories,“these staff members are a testament to the close relationships we maintain with research organizations, ”explains Bruno Fabre. “It was therefore logical to include them.”
Another new development: the specific mention of student contracts, which saw a sharp increase, rising from 628 in 2019 to 862 in 2020. “These jobs were created to support distance-learning students during the COVID-19 crisis, ”particularly through the Connect telephone program, which enabled thousands of first-year students to stay connected to the university by being contacted by their peers.
A proactive policy
While budgets for social programs and staff training were maintained throughout 2020, lockdowns and remote work sometimes led to the cancellation of these training sessions or the absence of certain staff members. Actual training expenditures therefore fell from €224,719 in 2019 to €144,183 in 2020, a difference of €80,000 that was replenished in 2021, as explained by the vice-chair of the board of directors:“We wanted to implement this proactive policy not only by maintaining the budgets but also by carrying over the remaining funds from these appropriations into 2021.”
This proactive policy has been taken even further, as the University has also authorized all its units (academic departments, schools, divisions, research units, etc.) to reallocate certain unused operating funds toward capital expenditures.“We did not want to centralize unused funds to increase the University’s financial reserves. Instead, we chose to invest in the future by prioritizing investments in building renovations, educational and scientific equipment, shared services, and more.”
Continuity of public service
The main development in 2020 is, of course, remote work, which has profoundly transformed the way we work and to which the social report now devotes a section. However, since the 2020 figures are based on the call for applications issued in 2019, they do not yet reflect its widespread adoption in our daily lives. Nevertheless, as early as 2019, 112 applications had been submitted,compared to 98 in 2018.“This is already a significant increase, but it is certain that these figures remain far below those we will see in future reports,” emphasizes the vice president.
Telework has become increasingly popular, and staff would not have been able to access it without the efforts made by the Information Systems and Digital Technology Division throughout 2020.“We really must commend the work of this division. It is largely thanks to them that we were able to ensure the continuity of our mission and, in particular, keep all our governing bodies operational. ” Board of Directors and academic meetings, technical committees, the Health, Safety, and Working Conditions Committee, meetings on operational matters with the UFRs, schools, and institutes, meetings with research unit directors, … “Even in the midst of lockdown, we maintained a genuine connection with all our departments,” recalls Bruno Fabre before concluding: “This continuity could never have been ensured without the efforts of the 5,000 staff members who make up our University. That is also part of our legacy! ”
The social report also provides a detailed snapshot of the University’s workforce breakdown by gender. As in previous years, the overall workforce shows an equal split between the two genders: 50.6% women and 49.4% men at UM. The imbalance becomes more pronounced when examining the breakdown by professional category. For instance, women make up only 40% of Professors men are a clear minority among administrative staff (BIATS), accounting for just 38% of that group. This proportion rises to 45% in Category A (the highest-ranking positions). Good news! The percentage of women is increasing in the “researchers” category, as they now represent 49% of this category, up from 46% in 2019.
In terms of hiring, 62% of tenured faculty members recruited among BIATS staff are women. Of Professors 21 Professors in 2020 (including both single-affiliation and dual-affiliation faculty), 14 are women. As for university professors, only 23% of those promoted in 2020 are women. This low rate rises to only 35% among associate professors.