The Office of Information Technology (OIT) held an informational meeting Monday to discuss the estimated 15 percent staff reduction announced earlier this month as part of the University's restructuring of the organization.

According to Assistant Provost for Information Technology Anne H. Margulies, the meeting was designed to provide OIT employees with all the information they need to decide whether to participate in the voluntary layoff program being offered.

Those who volunteer to leave their jobs will be given an enhanced severance package. Any employees who are involuntarily laid off will receive the University's standard package.

Under the terms of the enhanced package, employees will receive two weeks of severance pay for each year they have worked for the OIT and a lump sum based on their experience.

Those who have worked at the OIT for less than seven years will receive four months' pay, those who have worked there between seven and 15 years will get five months' and employees with more than 15 years of experience will get six months' pay.

At the meeting, which was repeated three times Monday, employees were given individual packets detailing their options and were able to ask specific questions about the voluntary program.

Provost Albert Carnesale also attended the meeting. Carnesale was out of town yesterday and unavailable for comment.

Margulies said she hopes all of the reductions can be made through employees who opt to take an enhanced severance package in return for voluntarily leaving. If not enough employees accept the offer, involuntary layoffs may be necessary, she said.

According to Margulies, there was record attendance at the meetings by the OIT's more than 200 employees. OIT staff members reacted well to the presentations and had many specific questions about their options, she said.

Several OIT employees said the stress level in the office is high after the meeting. General sentiment, however, is that since emphasis is shifting toward front-line services such as technical support, the cuts will mostly affect the upper echelons of the organization.

The union is generally wary of voluntary severance packages but is encouraged that the OIT seems to be dealing with the layoffs on an individual basis rather than collectively, said one official of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW).

The HUCTW said that compared to the usual layoff package its members receive, the severance pay offered is marginally better, but other measures such as benefits are worse.

This meeting will be followed by several more in which employees will be given additional information about their options, according to Margulies.

Employees will have until the end of business on May 31 to decide whether or not to take the package. Those who do opt to leave will then have an additional two weeks to change their minds.

The OIT should know by mid-June if involuntary layoffs will be necessary, Margulies said.

No specific number of layoffs has been set, Margulies said, because the purpose of the cuts is to eliminate a certain percentage of the OIT's costs rather than a certain number of people