Government must act on uni staff workplace health nightmare: union
National Tertiary Education Union Media Release
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has urged the Albanese Government to act on damning findings of a new study highlighting a workplace health crisis for university staff.
A four-year survey involving more than 6200 responses from Australian university staff has found unacceptable levels of stress, burnout, pressure and mental injuries.
Almost three quarters (73%) of professional and academic staff reported poor work environments in 2023.
More than two-thirds (67%) reported poor psychosocial safety, double the national average, while a similar amount (66%) reported suffering from burnout.
Some 43% reported extreme tiredness, anxiety or depression.
The research group was led by University of South Australia Professor Kurt Lushington, in collaboration with ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Maureen Dollard.
NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said universities must be compelled to prioritise staff wellbeing and safety.
“The damning findings of this major study highlight a sector in crisis, with lives at risk from unsafe working environments,” she said.
“The Universities Accord must address this life-and-death issue with decisive steps that put the onus back on universities to ensure safe working environments.
“Incredibly high levels of stress, exhaustion and mental distress must sound alarm bells for vice-chancellors all across Australia.
“Failures to protect staff will result in some of Australia’s most brilliant minds leaving our sector, which would put the nation’s future at risk.
“The union’s own research has explored these issues, with similar findings about the shockingly high levels of psychosocial hazards faced by university staff.
“The NTEU urges Education Minister Jason Clare to make improving staff wellbeing a core part of the government’s response to the Accord.”
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6 comments
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wam
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Terence Mills
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Roswell
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Canguro
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Terence Mills
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Roswell
Return to home pagetry a high school
What is the point of this article ?
Terry, we receive dozens of media releases emailed to us every week. The admin team select those where we know we have some readers who would be interested in the topic, no matter how small that number might be.
This is what happens when university administrators corporatise their institutions and preference revenue over academic excellence; the relevant corollary being that academics of whatever stripe become secondary to the all-consuming obsession with bums on seats irrespective of the intellectual quality of those bums as evidenced by the associated rise in essay factories and plagiarism conducted by students whose primary goal is a degree gained without any particular commitment or effort.
Penny-pinching in areas such as provision of sufficient tutors and technical staff, appropriate splits in working hours assigned to teaching and research, along with little or no recognition of the quality of the skill sets brought by those employees are also a major aspect of this degradation of the working environments of these people. It’s little surprise that this study has highlighted this crisis.
A great shame when one considers the relative privilege of being able to study at tertiary level, and a classic example of middling middle & upper level management utterly losing the plot.
Thanks for that Roswell and I have no doubt that academics have some gripes and I’m sure that they have the tools to address these.
I’m more concerned with the plight of students under the HECS/HELP scheme who have been slugged a 7.1% indexation rate on their debt for last year (determined by the Consumer Price Index or CPI). It seems that the system is broken when someone with a $20,000 HECS debt could pay $5,000 back during the financial year but still gets indexed on the $20,000 rather than the actual reduced debt of $15,000.
Apart from which 7.1% indexation (call it interest) seems extortionate when we should be trying to assist young people in enhancing their education and qualifications for the ultimate benefit of our society : it’s more like a penalty on those whose parents can’t pay cash.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-15/politicians-call-for-changes-to-unfair-hecs-repayment-system/103472284
“Union” was another key word, Terry. There are a number of union groups on Facebook who share our posts.