Times Higher Education reposted this
Chief Global Affairs Officer, Times Higher Education (THE). Director General, Education World Forum. Creator of the World Academic Summit and convenor of the Global Sustainable Development Congress.
Late last year, Professor Joan Taylor collapsed on a bus in London and is likely to have died without the emergency resuscitation and treatment she received. Her near-death experience was due to over-work. She asks in this article for Times Higher Education: "Can it be our responsibility as employees to better prioritise our well-being when the workload imposed on us goes so far beyond what can be done in a 35-hour week? "The university sector has changed radically as it has experienced huge growth, becoming configured like a production line," she says. "Students are now customers, who buy education at great cost as a product that will lead to another product: the degree itself. The institution has to assure the quality of that product. And that causes it to see us as 'human resources', who supply services such as teaching and research outputs, administration and student care. Like 'natural resources', we are ultimately there to be exploited for economic gain. "In this model, our caring concern can be used against us, because our ethos of conscientiousness for students can go beyond what we are paid for – and what we should limit ourselves to for the sake of our own well-being." Please read Professor Taylor's powerful words, and please share your thoughts. #worklifebalance #workload #burnout #workplacestress https://lnkd.in/eTtfkBQc