Higher education stress way above normal levels

Higher education stress way above normal levels

The stress experienced by workers in higher education greatly exceeds levels laid down in the Health and Safety Executive's management standards, according to the college union UCU. Its report, Tackling stress in higher education, lists individual institutions' stress scores. The union says it paints a worrying picture of a higher education sector that is failing to meet standards of psychosocial working conditions set out by the HSE. UCU ranks the institutions on each of the seven HSE key stress indicators - demands, control, managerial support, peer support, relationships, role and change. It says on all of the stressors, apart from control, higher education institutions on average reported lower well-being than the levels recorded in the general workforce in the HSE report Psychosocial working conditions in Britain in 2008. HSE says that 'organisations should strive to ensure their employees achieve the level of those currently in the top 20 per cent of the distribution for each of the standards,' says UCU, adding: 'It is clear from the UCU report that the higher education sector is far from achieving the HSE aspiration.' UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: 'Universities need urgently to do more to address the worrying levels of stress in higher education. It is unacceptable that so few institutions are reaching the levels recommended by the Health and Safety Executive. Harassment and bullying can play no part in academic life.' She added: 'An important factor contributing to stress among our members is a mismatch between demands and control. We have genuine concerns that if the problems are not properly addressed then staff will be subject to burn-out at earlier stages in their careers, and the most talented and dedicated staff will never be attracted in the first place.'

UCU news release. Tackling stress in higher education, UCU survey findings [pdf]. 2008 occupational stress survey - responses by HEI [pdf].