Stress soars in further and higher education

Workers in the further, prison and higher education sectors experience levels of stress well beyond limits recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) according to research by the UCU lecturers’ union.

The UCU surveyed 3,000 further education staff. It found that 87% of respondents reported sometimes, often or always experiencing levels of stress at work that they found unacceptable. Nearly four-fifths of respondents (79.8%) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “I find my job stressful.” More than half (55%) reported high or very high general levels of stress.

The union found that stress was unacceptably high for the six stressor categories devised by HSE: demands, control, managerial and peer support, relationships, role and change. A similar report into higher education found that on all of the stressors – apart from control – university and college workers suffered levels of stress greater than HSE thresholds.

Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: “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.”

The UCU has suggested measures to improve working lives, including: improved physical environment, greater autonomy, better management of change, less paperwork, tackling bullying and harassment, more flexible working, a reduction in contact hours and pay equivalent to schoolteachers.