University staff tend to report high levels of stress at the best of times, and academic staff usually rate their experience of stress as higher than other staff groups in the Higher education setting.

If lecturers feel stressed anyway, what effect might the cuts that are expected to hit the university sector have on their levels of stress? Will levels of sick absence increase? Is there anything employers can do?

 

Research by QoWL Ltd, a University of Portsmouth spin out company over the last 10 years or so has used the Work-Related Quality of Life scale (WRQoL) to assess both stress and 5 other factors that have been found to predict and explain overall quality of working life. This research has highlighted the complex interactions between various aspects of an employee’s experience. For example, stress does not seem to simply increase or decrease as expected when changes occur in organisations. The assessment of quality of working life has been seen as a way of gaining an understanding of the whole picture so that effective action can be taken to address stress and related issues at work. This examination of the bigger picture has arisen from observation that simple and straight forward endeavours to reduce stress at work often prove unsuccessful because the underlying causes need to be tackled if real change is to be achieved.

 

Thus in one organisation, a series of stress management workshops failed to produce real changes, because dissatisfaction with imposition of open plan offices due to cuts, rather than poor stress management skills was the root cause of increased experience of stress among staff.

 

Analysis of WRQoL results of surveys at UK Universities by QoWL Ltd and the University of Portsmouth shows that stress has only a relatively limited part to play in the overall experience of quality of working life among staff. Whilst staff might report increase in demands or stress more generally, the consequences are difficult to predict. The idea that cuts will simply lead to increased stress and/or more sick absence, to strikes or to staff leaving the sector is likely to be too simplistic.

 

In their surveys of more than 10% of UK universities, QoWL Ltd survey results indicate that factors other than stress play a substantial part in determining employees’ experience of stress and strain. Specifically, the findings show that overall quality of working life tends to be most closely correlated with measures of general well-being, rather than with reported stress, closely followed by the balance of work and home and working conditions. The next most important elements determining overall quality of life have been shown to be: job satisfaction, security of employment, and enjoyment of work. Stress has less of an effect than all these aspects on overall quality of working life.

 

This breadth of information allows organisations to begin to unpick the key factors affecting their staff, and thereby identify steps that can be taken to mitigate changes and pressures and so foster well-being. Level of staff well-being tends to be a better predictor of sick absence than stress, so a simple stress management strategy may have less effect on sick absence levels when the cuts begin to bite than general health promotion programmes, for example.

 

Closer examination of the survey data for universities shows that the main factors which tend to determine university sector staff reporting of stress are, in order of importance:

 

   1. workload pressures
   2. general health and well-being
   3. relationships with colleagues
   4. balance between work and home life

 

Whilst it is no surprise that demands and general well-being should be good predictors of stress, these results highlight the importance of the social environment and the home-work balance.

 

Good relationships with colleagues and the absence of negative behaviours such as bullying, harassment and conflict at work play a key role in employees’ experience of stress at work. Where relationships are strained, stress is very likely to be the outcome.  The survey analyses highlight the importance of fostering good relationships and constructive management behaviours in order to minimise the risk of stress. Attention to these aspects in time of increased pressure is likely to reap rewards.

 

Whilst a good work-life balance predicts lower stress, more detailed analysis of results shows that working excessively long hours predicts higher stress. Our qualitative analysis of responses to an open question in the surveys showed that organisational flexibility and trust appear to be characteristics of organisations with a high quality of working life.  It would seem that development and implementation of flexible working policies and the promotion of good balance between work and home life are likely to be effective policies for universities anticipating cuts in funding.

 

Overall, our surveys of thousands of UK university employees show that a variety of interventions could yield positive results in preventing and reducing stress at work. Happy, healthy employees will tend to be less stressed, so interventions that promote general well-being at work, good relationships with colleagues and a good work-home balance should be prioritised.

 

So, given that the higher education sector is expecting pressure to increase on staff due to cuts, what, if anything, can employers do? Careful and detailed assessment of staff experience using valid measures will be key to helping organisations identify what actions need to be taken to help staff deal with changes. As ever, assessment, understanding, change - in that order - underpins the effective management of stress and the broader experience of quality of working life.

 
Contact information:
Simon Easton, Consultant Psychologist, QoWL Ltd Tel: 08454 75 76 95
Email: simon.easton@qowl.co.uk Web: www.qowl.co.uk

Dr Darren Van Laar, Reader in Applied Psychology, University of Portsmouth. Tel.; 02392 846306
Email; Darren.van.laar@port.ac.uk