Depression, stress, anxiety, burnout, overwork and poor work-life balance are rife within universities, a damning report on staff wellbeing within higher education has suggested.
The report, Supporting staff wellbeing in higher education, by Education Support, surveyed 2,046 academic and academic-related staff on the psychosocial hazards they encountered in their work.
Just a third (29%) achieved scores indicating ‘average’ wellbeing, with more than half (53%) showing signs of probable depression.
Many respondents were also showing signs of burnout, with nearly a third (29%) saying they felt ‘emotionally drained’ from their work at the end of each.
More than a third (36%) said they always, or almost always, neglected their personal needs because of the demands of their work.
More than a quarter (28%) reported missing important personal activities because of the time they spent working.
Higher education
Academic staff suffer ‘epidemic’ of poor mental health
More than half of those polled (59%) feared they would be seen as ‘weak’ if they sought support for their wellbeing, just over seven out of ten agreed (41%) or strongly agreed (30%) this would harm their career.
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of respondents would not approach their manager for support, as they believed they did not have the necessary skills or knowledge to help.
Alongside stigma, it was generally felt there was little information on what support was available, difficulty with access, both in terms of location and timing, and interventions that were not fit for purpose.
Academic staff on rolling, and often precarious, contracts – which have become much more common in higher education in recent years – generally reported lower levels of wellbeing, greater stigmatisation around mental health issues, and greater risk of burnout.
The stresses and strains of academic life had been compounded by the impact of Covid-19 on the sector, the study found.
I feel my institution plays lip service to support initiatives; so many are in place but often they are ineffective” – an anonymous respondent to the survey
Respondents reported increased workload pressures, longer working hours, little support while working online, isolation when working from home, increased expectations from students and the need to be managing student wellbeing more frequently.
As one respondent to the survey put it: “I feel my institution plays lip service to support initiatives; so many are in place but often they are ineffective and/or there is no real commitment to the values that are essential to their success.”
The report, written by Dr Siobhan Wray, associate professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Lincoln and Professor Gail Kinman, visiting professor of occupational health psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, concluded that perceptions of the psychosocial safety climate in UK universities are “typically poor”, and considerably more so than other sectors.
“The importance of improving the psychosocial safety climate in UK universities is intensified by the findings that the risk of burnout is high, and the level of self-reported mental wellbeing considerably lower than population norms,” they argued.
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“Interference between work and personal life is a common cause of stress and burnout and the findings of this study show that HE employees continue to have difficulties in achieving a healthy balance,” they added.
It was crucial universities did more to promote a workplace culture where help-seeking is not stigmatised and support was both fit for purpose and more accessible to staff. “These actions will help institutions meet the challenges of the Covid-19 outbreak and ‘build back better’ in terms of a healthy and more productive workforce,” the authors added.
