'Period of urgency' | Boss demands HR team stay late, work weekends & scrap time off amid 2,300 job cuts

HR employees at a US school district have been ordered to work weekends, stay later on weekdays and avoid taking holidays as a wave of redundancies puts pressure on their superiors ahead of students returning to school imminently.

According to the Houston Chronicle, dozens of HR workers at the Houstin Independent School District (ISD) received an email from Executive Director Wally de Cobarrubia, stating: “As exempt employees, you are expected to work extended hours before and after your assigned work schedule, as needed, to complete all work-related tasks, assigned duties, and projects.

“All team members are expected to be available to assist in work across HR departments, and therefore must be flexible and able to pivot to new assignments at a moment’s notice.”

The correspondence comes after the district announced more than 2,300 layoffs – roughly 25% of the HISD’s workforce - as part of a major restructuring plan which has resulted in some critical shortages of teaching staff, ahead of an August 28 return for students.