Mental health risks high for university staff

As cash-strapped universities shed more staff, academics have revealed the personal toll of constant cost-cutting.

Job insecurity and heavy work loads are making university staff stressed, a Senate inquiry has been told.

University staff suffer mental health hazards at twice the rate of other workers, a Senate inquiry has been told, amid complaints of bullying, burnout and ongoing wage theft.

Escalating rates of depression and anxiety among university staff have been detailed in a study funded by the Australian Research Council, through the Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory at the University of South Australia.

The results, based on surveys of more than 6000 university staff over the past four years, show the proportion of workers exposed to very high levels of psychosocial risk has soared from 26.6 per cent in 2020 to 39.6 per cent last year.

“We uncovered evidence of a crisis in Australian universities in relation to psychological safety,’’ the observatory has told the Senate inquiry into university governance.

“In the data we are observing evidence of increased burnout and work pressure, and declining engagement … things are getting worse.

“In universities, where we want creative, thoughtful and engaged minds, we are building a climate of burnout, survival and resentment.’’

The observatory has told the inquiry that up to 37 per cent of Australian workers and public servants report a low to very low “psychosocial climate” at work, compared to a rate as high as 77 per cent among university staff.

“As universities focus on profits and productivity through organisational restructuring, cost cutting, wage theft, casualisation and increasing student numbers … a sense of injustice is wearing on university staff,’’ its submission states.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), which has 28,000 members, told the inquiry that the “bullying and harassment of staff by students and parents’’ added to psychosocial hazards for university employees.

It also criticised high job demands, constant organisational change and the “high emotional demand to support students’’.

The NTEU said it was aware of “many instances whereby elected staff representatives on governing bodies have experienced bullying and/or been targeted in other ways by senior leadership’’.

“This includes being excluded from parts of meetings, being prevented from adding to agendas, not receiving papers, not being able to speak out during meetings, excluded from positions on subcommittees,’’ its submission states.

“Staff representatives have also been industrially and/or legally targeted for speaking publicly on concerns and issues.’’

The NTEU’s University of Queensland branch president, history professor Andrew Bonnell, told the inquiry that “bullying is widespread’’.

“Numerous bouts of restructuring continue to place heavy workloads on professional staff who face frustration and high levels of stress,’’ he wrote in a submission published by the Senate education legislation committee on Tuesday.

“With managers routinely ignoring the psychosocial risks associated with high workloads, the University of Queensland is not meeting the responsibilities invested in it by the Workplace Health and Safety Act.

“Wage theft is ongoing, suggesting that noncompliance with the Fair Work Act continues to be a problem.’’

A UQ spokeswoman said that “the university doesn’t tolerate bullying, and any reports are investigated and appropriate action taken.‘’

“The University is committed to ensuring staff, including casual staff, are paid fairly and appropriately for the work they undertake,’’ she said.

The Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences has told the Senate inquiry that “universities are now widely regarded as bad employers, even lawless bosses’’.

“Universities have not only relied excessively on casual workers; they have illegally underpaid them,’’ its submission states.

Macquarie University Professor Katie Barclay, a Future Fellow in the department of history and archaeology, has told senators that universities’ cost-cutting strategy is to “fire the most expensive senior academics’’.

“Members of a leadership team that are not liked by a VC (vice-chancellor) or other senior leader need to be pressured to resign, and if they are reluctant, they can experience dreadful bullying,’’ she states in her submission.

“In my study of academic women, several senior leaders retired after being bullied out of their jobs by managers who no longer wanted them in their roles.’’

In its submission to the inquiry, Macquarie University revealed that the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) had commended its performance last year, after renewing the university’s registration for seven years.

TEQSA wrote that “Macquarie University has demonstrated it has competent governance oversight, a strong and ongoing commitment to fostering a safe environment for students and staff, and a high degree of maturity and diligence in developing, reviewing and improving its policies and procedures.”