The Management of Academic Workloads: the employers’ perspective

1. The Management of Academic Workloads:the employers’ perspective Helen Fairfoul 17 September 2009

2. The drivers for employers’ interest • Stakeholder interest • Achieving HEIs’ strategic aims • Accountability to Boards, etc • Changes in delivery models, ways of working • Responsibilities to students • Responsibilities to staff • Help managers to do their jobs • Equity and fairness • Transparency • Health, safety and welfare • Career development

3. Stakeholder interest • Government and funding council concerns to see return on investment of public funds • Students – many as fee payers - concern to be assured of delivery of expectations • Research funders’ standards and expectations and, of course, • Staff and their representatives’ concern to see equity, fairness, opportunity and safe workloads

4. Achieving HEIs’ strategic aims • Greater clarity in missions and strategic aims • Greater competition • Differentiated focus, within and between HEIs • Teaching quality • Student recruitment, access • Student support and retention • New modes of delivery • Research outputs • Applied research • Commercial engagement • Overseas delivery • Partnerships

5. Accountability to Boards, etc • Governing boards expect to be assured on performance against targets • Legal responsibilities for health & safety of staff • Accountability expected throughout the HEI • Managers need to know Wish to avoid: • “bean-counting” in a creative enterprise • time recording (inputs vs outputs)

6. Changes in delivery models, ways of working • Course structures more diverse • Assessment approaches changing • On-line delivery / support • Work-based learning • Off campus / remote campus • Rapid course development / review Not likely to be one-size-fits-all way of assessing input needed or output expected

7. Responsibilities to students • Increasing pressure of students’ expectations • Explicit commitments on “contact” time • Assessment and feedback • Support needs Increasing culture of complaint / litigation

8. Responsibilities to staff • Help managers to do their jobs A framework for: • conversations about balance of role and HEI / department priorities • conversations in which concerns can be raised • challenging ineffective use of time • surfacing any issues about staff doing too much / too little • assurance that they are working in a consistent and fair manner • fit with accountability, TRAC requirements, etc.

9. Responsibilities to staff • Equity and fairness • Enabling staff members to focus on the range of their priorities / objectives • Recognition that not all similar tasks are similarly onerous • Recognition that some tasks need explicit time allocations

10. Responsibilities to staff • Transparency • Knowing a similarity of treatment is being applied • Enabling an understanding of how workload allocation / assessment has been arrived at • Removing perceptions (or reality) about those doing too much or too little Support from staff will be critical to success

11. Responsibilities to staff • Health, safety and welfare • Concerns to provide for a good work:life balance • Nature of the academic role and self-management • Concerns over work as a contributor to stress • Indicator available for “excessive” workload (relative measure) • Framework in which staff member concerns can be raised • Can challenge ineffective use of time – switch focus from inputs to outputs

12. Responsibilities to staff • Career development • Enabling staff members to focus on their strengths or develop in new areas • Can reflect quality or significance of outputs • Framework for conversation about balance of role and opportunities for development, within HEI / department priorities • A (rough) check to assess how tasks and roles are allocated across a team. Can look at, for example • gender • ethnicity • disability • part-time staff • fixed term staff