Union survey finds that staff are not coping with extra demands caused by Covid
The Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to cause stress and increased workloads for staff in New Zealand’s tertiary education system, a report has said.
In the third instalment of the Tertiary Education Union’s Covid-19 survey, measures to deal with the pandemic were blamed for exacerbating existing issues and creating extra pressures.
“The key problems that have persisted for all staff from the first survey include increasing stress and workload. Adding to the stress are the parallel initiatives by administration and management to implement ongoing structural change or restructuring in their institutions.”
The survey report was compiled by researcher Charles Sedgwick, who wrote that deteriorations in conditions over 2020 had not been addressed. “Sadly, in 2021 and particularly in the university sector, even under a very critical pressure of a pandemic, the problems have persisted with some notable caveats,” the report says.
The survey revealed a “growing convergence” between the issues felt by academic and other staff, “a clear distinction…between the behaviour of line management and senior leadership/management teams”, and a belief that senior management “intentionally or otherwise…remain uninformed about the work of staff”.
All this has created a “pervasive sense of disheartened frustration, and the overwhelming sense, despite their endurance and contribution under these conditions exacerbated by the pandemic, that [staff] are obstructed in their attempts to provide the best education possible for students”, the report says.
Stress levels
Around 90 per cent of academics reported stress at moderate to very high levels, with nearly half ranking their stress as high to very high. Since the last report, in October, “there has been a marked increase at the upper end and a slight reduction in those with low to very low stress levels”.
Reduced time for research, loss of staff, lack of time for collegiate activities and expectations of “24/7” availability were all major causes of stress among academics, with staff cuts and workload demands ranked highest for general staff.
Academics reported that they had been told to seek counselling when they complained about stress, and they said that precarious employment on fixed-term contracts was also stressful.
The union says the results should be “a clarion call for collective action” on the state of the education system.
Experiences in the polytechnic sector have also been affected by government-driven restructuring, the survey found.
The survey was carried out in April and May 2021 and published by the union this month. It included eight questions and received more than 3,000 comments from more than 1,000 respondents. The union plans to begin another round of surveys in March.