The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at Johns Hopkins are being felt at the university’s center for tech transfer and entrepreneurship.
Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures laid off eight people across its divisions on Oct. 7 amid wider job cuts at the university due to revenue losses in the pandemic. After a review, JHTV is implementing a leaner structure that shifts reporting lines for staff.
“COVID-19 has required the university to carefully scrutinize and tighten all aspects of its budget,” the university said in a statement. “Following an April communication about necessary university-wide financial mitigation steps, JHTV conducted a rigorous assessment of its staffing structure in order to identify division-specific cost saving opportunities. Despite a healthy business with strong revenue projections, we identified a new structure for JHTV that will optimize our division for leaner times.”
A university spokesperson said that while there may be fewer people on the team, JHTV is striving to keep what’s offered to students and faculty consistent.
The university eliminated a total of 1.2% of its 17,000-employee workforce as a result of similar reviews that took place across its divisions. At JHTV, the cuts were closer to 10% of the workforce, proportion-wise, as the division had nearly 80 employees, per its website.
