Workload: a shocking new report shows why you need to vote for action

When I emailed you earlier this week about UCU's new salary modeller I said 'we know that staff in HE are hugely overworked'.

A new report released today by the Education Support charity exposes the reality of work-related stress in universities.

Not enough people outside the sector appreciate how tough things have got. Just watch this exchange I had yesterday with a member of the House of Commons Education Select Committee when I presented evidence on the impact of the pandemic on staff.

Today's report provides another reminder of why you need to vote for industrial action in the Four Fights dispute - and if you don't have your ballot papers, order a replacement by 5pm today.

Do you feel burnt out and depressed?

Are you constantly under unrealistic time pressures?

Has the pandemic made things worse for you?

Do you know colleagues who feel this way?

This report validates your experience in vivid detail. It finds that:

• the mental wellbeing of HE staff is significantly lower than the wider population
• the pandemic has severely exacerbated existing work-related stress
• huge numbers of staff are showing signs of burnout and/or depression
• more than half of the survey respondents are often or always experiencing unrealistic time pressures.

The report also confirms that existing employer-led initiatives are not helpful.

Seminars on 'wellbeing' and 'resilience' can make you feel personally responsible for your burnout, when the real blame lies with the unreasonable expectations which employers place on staff: to excel in every area, to compete relentlessly with your colleagues, and to paper over the cracks of a broken system of student recruitment and support.

This report should cause every vice chancellor in the sector to hang their heads in shame and make amends for the institutional crisis of work-related stress which they are overseeing. Sadly, we know from bitter experience that it won't.

The solution to this problem lies in collective action. That is why workload is a core element of our Four Fights industrial action ballot.

That is why we are demanding a sector-wide 35-hour week, backed up by genuinely realistic workload models which employers will have to agree with their local trade union branches.

That is why you need to post your vote for industrial action and stop your profound commitment to education, research, and supporting students from being weaponised against you.

Vote today for a higher education sector that is fit to work in.

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary