Professional Employment Redesign (PER)

Dear Members of the University Community,

As President Killeen said in his message to you earlier today, the University of Illinois System joined other public universities in talks with the State Universities Civil Service System (SUCSS) to develop new criteria for exempting positions from the civil service system. 

Throughout the revision process, we worked diligently and at Chancellor Jones’ direction to maintain as much flexibility as possible, and the new exemption criteria still allow us to exempt many positions from civil service. We are now preparing the systems necessary to implement the revised procedures in a way that supports our missions of learning, discovery, and engagement.

The new Exemption Procedures Manual takes effect October 1, 2018. On that date, Illinois Human Resources (IHR) will begin using the new criteria for vacancies and appointment changes.  It is important to note that this change does not require that we automatically reclassify current Academic Professional positions to Civil Service.

Illinois Human Resources will work with units to ensure that they retain the ability to make hiring decisions based on the specific knowledge and skills they need for a certain position. As an institution, we will continue to aggressively recruit, promote, and retain qualified, skilled employees as do our peer institutions, some of which also have civil service systems.

We have created a Professional Employment Redesign website to offer information about the new criteria and upcoming process changes as we move forward with the transition.  We will update this site with new information as it becomes available. 

We value the contributions of employees in all job classifications, and we are confident that the new processes will allow units to continue to hire, promote, and retain world-class professionals.

Best regards,

Elyne G. Cole
Associate Provost for
Human Resources

Previous Communications

Message from President Killeen

Dear colleagues:

Over the last year, the University of Illinois System joined other public universities in talks with the State Universities Civil Service System (SUCSS) to develop new procedures for exempting positions from the civil service system.

I write to share the news that an agreement has been reached that complies with state law while still allowing us to exempt academic professional positions from the civil service system, as appropriate. The system and university human resource offices are in the process of communicating the details of the new procedures and implementation plans.

This has been a tremendous effort by many stakeholders across the state, including our system and university human resources staff, system and university leadership, employee advisory committees, and members of our Board of Trustees who also serve on the SUCSS merit board.

I am grateful to all of them and to SUCSS for their vital role in developing innovative solutions that maintain our ability to hire academic professional positions. Staffing colleges, departments, and units with the best and most qualified talent to carry out our mission is crucial to our success.

Sincerely,

Timothy L. Killeen
President