This blog was kindly contributed by Dr Rasha Kassem, research project team lead for ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Staff in UK Higher Education – A Comparative Analysis across the Four UK Nations’ at The Open University.
Undeniably, the pandemic has adversely impacted employees in every sector, and higher education is no exception. As The Conversation recently reported, organisational support is key to employee commitment and wellbeing as it can lessen the adverse effects of the pandemic.
A research project funded internally by The Open University (OU) explored how universities supported staff in higher education throughout the UK during the pandemic and whether their support was found satisfactory. The research identified best practices in employer support that can inform policies and enhance resilience during similar health crises.
There were nearly 300 respondents to an online survey which took place in 2022. Participants included academic and professional staff in UK higher education across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, although most participants were from England. The age of participants ranged from 20 to 70 years old. Most participants were full-timers, but our sample also included part-timers and contractors. More than 50 per cent of participants were parents and most did not have caring responsibilities. Most participants were females, but we also had a large number of male participants and a small number of non-binary participants. The majority of participants did not have known disabilities.
Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Financial Management, Dr Rasha Kassem, led the cross-University research team, supported by her Business School colleague Dr Shraddha Verma and OU colleagues Dr Kerry Jones and Dr Soraya Kouadri, alongside Ruth Whitney from the OU in Scotland.
Here are our key findings from the report:
Some staff reported:
Some staff reported the following examples of best practice employer support during the pandemic:
Staff responses included:
Staff responses included:
Our findings showed the negative impact of the pandemic on staff in UK higher education. Although some employers supported their staff well during these unprecedented circumstances to alleviate the impact of COVID-19, others were felt to have provided insufficient care and, in some cases, were seen as adding pressure on staff.
We recommend the following:
1. Policymakers should guide universities in managing higher education staff during health crises. Our research includes:
2. There should be consistency in employer support across the UK and all staff should be treated equally and fairly in similar health crises.
3. We recommend that UK higher education institutions should:
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