The University of Maine System laid off 13 employees and eliminated three unfilled positions in its information technology department on Friday and is reassigning more than 50 employees.

The layoffs are part of a broader restructuring of the system-wide IT department, Chief Information Officer Robert Placido told workers Friday afternoon in an email that was obtained by the Press Herald. That effort also includes creating more than a half-dozen new positions, including an associate chief information officer of infrastructure, and increases salaries and assigns new titles to six positions.

“Our current IT organizational structure has created silos and barriers that hinder collaboration and communication, leading to delays and inefficiency,” Placido wrote in the email. “We have inadvertently fostered a top-heavy structure that impedes rapid decision-making and solution delivery.”

Placido said the overall restructuring aims to be cost-neutral, as salary savings will be used to expand some areas, including “AI adoption in the areas of IT,” expanded security detection and improved ID management systems.

Samantha Warren, spokesperson for the system, confirmed the layoffs and reassignments in a text message and said Friday was the last day for the 13 employees who were laid off. Warren said the affected jobs are all system-level positions, but some IT workers may work on individual campuses or remotely.

“Campus-based support staff who provide on-demand IT support to faculty, staff and students are not affected,” Warren said in an email.

All told, 16 positions were eliminated, but 3 were not staffed at the time of the layoffs, Warren said in the email. The layoffs account for roughly 6% of the office’s 215 positions, she added.

Members of the Maine Department of Labor’s Rapid Response Team will meet with terminated workers Monday, Warren said. She said terminated employees will receive “severance consistent with their respective collective bargaining agreements or employment contracts for non-represented IT professionals.”

She added that those laid off will still be able to access the system’s Employee Assistance Program benefits for one year. Those benefits include reduced-cost access to financial and legal services, wellness seminars and counseling sessions, according to the system’s website.

In a written statement, Placido said the restructuring, dubbed a “modernization” of the system’s IT department, was “long overdue.”

“We recognize the loss of any position is painful, especially for those directly impacted and their families, and are committed to providing all available resources to support those individuals with this difficult transition,” Placido said in the statement.

Placido did not reply Friday night to emailed questions about exactly which positions were eliminated or the department’s goals moving forward.

Warren said the cut positions cover a range of roles, including an IT solutions analyst, several director-level positions and the executive director of Networkmaine, a cross-campus internet services network that also includes K-12 schools and public libraries.

Neil Greenberg, president of the Universities of Maine Professional Staff Association, an employee union, said he was forwarded the email around 5:30 p.m. by another member of union leadership.

“We don’t have a whole lot of information about it,” Greenberg said. “As people were getting laid off, we got copies of layoff letters.”

He said it was too early for the union to offer a response.

“I think everybody’s kind of like, a little bit in shock,” he said on a phone call shortly after 6 p.m. “There’s been no mention of anything, and then ‘Surprise! We’re laying people off today.'”