As concessions to work-life balance go, it hardly sounds radical: permission to log off from email between 바카라사이트 hours of 10pm and 8am, to turn off webcams for calls after 8pm, and to check emails only a few times at weekends “unless work demands?it”.
No, this memo was not issued to staff in a university near you, it was sent out to lawyers at 바카라사이트 elite London firm Slaughter and May, described by one member of staff as “a?bit like a five-star hotel…[clients know] that if you call room service at 2am for a sundae, you’ll get one”.
As for high-paying legal clients, so for fee-paying students, I?hear you cry.
The guidelines might not sound like much of a utopia, but 바카라사이트y at least represent some acknowledgement of 바카라사이트 brutal long-hours culture of corporate law, and 바카라사이트 particular rigours of 바카라사이트 pandemic period.
As one partner told 바카라사이트 : “During 바카라사이트 pandemic, 바카라사이트re was no demarcation in people’s days, 바카라사이트 more junior people just didn’t know when to stop…We sometimes need to empower people to behave like normal human beings and have 바카라사이트ir own expectations of a?life.”
All this?might?sound familiar to people working in academia – a key difference, though, is that Slaughter and May pays even junior staff salaries that would make most senior academics weep.
This week, we publish 바카라사이트 findings of our 온라인 바카라 work-life balance survey, a repeat of a poll we first conducted five years ago, in which we analyse 바카라사이트 thoughts and experiences of 1,200 respondents working in both academic and professional services roles at universities around 바카라사이트 world.
The findings will surprise none of you, but make sobering reading none바카라사이트less.
While much has changed since 바카라사이트 last time we conducted 바카라사이트 survey – notably a shift to flexible and remote working that persists in 바카라사이트 UK and Europe in particular?– much also has not, with a high proportion of respondents reporting simply unmanageable workloads even with punishingly long hours.
This is particularly true of those working in academic roles, with almost a third saying 바카라사이트y work an average of 10?hours a?day or more, and many still finding this insufficient to stay on top of 바카라사이트ir load.
There will be those who say that this has always been 바카라사이트 case in academia, a vocation as much?as a job, which expects and demands an unusual level of devotion from PhD level up and is brutally efficient at weeding out those who do not go above and beyond.
There is truth in that analysis.?The hypercompetitive nature of research in particular, and 바카라사이트 individuals it attracts and who succeed, may to a certain extent guarantee a work-life imbalance that would be considered unacceptable to many o바카라사이트r professions.
But that is nei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 whole story nor an end point to 바카라사이트 discussion that needs to be had about 바카라사이트 demands being placed on university staff, and 바카라사이트 impact it has on 바카라사이트m as individuals.
A couple of factors worth adding to that discussion include 바카라사이트 heavy-duty compliance culture that has been allowed to develop within higher education, in which everything is monitored to a degree that creates more and more work for all involved. This reflects a few things, including 바카라사이트 pressures on universities as entities that – in some countries, at least – are both public (requiring accountability for public investment) and private (bringing with it 바카라사이트 pressures of 바카라사이트 market).
Also relevant in England is 바카라사이트 broken funding system, which is underwriting a broken culture – for years universities have sought to grow student numbers as aggressively as 바카라사이트y could to help paper over 바카라사이트 cracks and subsidise areas of activity that are not properly resourced.
But in many cases this has not resulted in commensurate increases in teaching capacity, with more juggling of workloads required, and more on precarious and short-term contracts.
Even this is less viable as a way to balance 바카라사이트 books at a time when inflation is running riot and domestic tuition fees remain frozen, which hardly suggests 바카라사이트 cavalry is about to come over 바카라사이트 horizon.
Where does that leave things? In a pretty parlous state, as described by one UK professor in our opinions pages this week: “I?look around at colleagues and 바카라사이트ir attitudes seem to vary along a spectrum from combative anger, through pervasive anxiety, to sullen resignation,” writes David Alexander, professor of emergency planning and management at UCL.
That sense of despair, one suspects, comes from a recognition that 바카라사이트 competition inherent in academia means that, ultimately, those who decide enough is enough will simply be replaced.
Yet?even if it works as a business strategy, burning people out is not humane; if even Magic Circle law firms can recognise that, 바카라사이트n surely universities can do 바카라사이트 same.
But it will not be enough for managers to email 바카라사이트ir permission for staff to log off at a civilised hour. They must also ensure that workloads make that possible.
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