Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin have posted job listings for more than 100 positions expected to be in place across both campuses with the transfer of most inpatient services to Austin and the move of psychiatric services to Albert Lea in the next two years.

The announcement came Monday in a press release from the health system that Mayo leaders said they hoped would give a clearer picture of what positions will be needed to staff the integrated work units. Jobs include nurses, nursing assistants and health unite coordinators on both campuses.

Over the next two years, inpatient surgery, childbirth, inpatient hospitalization — including medical, surgical and pediatric — will be consolidated on the Austin campus. The inpatient psychiatric services unit will move to the Albert Lea campus, and observation beds will be added to the Albert Lea emergency department.

“As we continue our work of transitioning certain hospital services between our Albert Lea and Austin campuses, our staff is experiencing the uncertainty that can come with change,” said Diane Twedell, chief nursing officer for Mayo Clinic Health System southeast Minnesota region, in the release. “They have asked us — and our communities have asked — to provide as much clarity as we can about what the future looks like.”

Twedell said current staff are asked to apply for future positions now, and once an employee has been awarded a position, it will be held for him or her.

“We are inviting our nursing department staff to consider their options and apply for these positions now so they can begin planning for the future,” she said. “Holding positions for months or even years is not a standard practice in the health care industry, but we feel strongly that this is the best way to provide more certainty for our staff, and to demonstrate through our actions that we want them to remain as part of our valued staff.”

Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin CEO Mark Ciota said Mayo is working hard to retain the staff who have provided good care for patients in the past and to keep employment in the communities “strong and stable.”

Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents the nurses at both campuses, released a statement after the health system’s announcement, describing it as a “cynical distraction from the fact that Albert Lea residents are losing their full-service hospital and workers are losing their jobs.”

“Mayo is once again causing more anxiety among employees and going against what they said they were going to do,” said MNA President Mary C. Turner. “This raises the question of Mayo’s true motivation about the actual timeline for closing the Albert Lea units. Mayo’s actions since the announcement last June 12 have eroded public and employee trust even more.”

Service Employees International Union Health Care President Jamie Gulley said details of Mayo’s transition of services are “murky” for community members and questioned why the announcement had to be a surprise to employees.