Support staff only Add to your workload
Does the increase in support staff reduce the workload on academics or does it actually increase the workload?
In my experience the workload actually increases. I will give a few examples.
When there was only one academic support officer, they knew what subjects we were teaching and sent us the data for only those classes. Now with layers of middle "support" staff, the person sending us that data does not know who is teaching what and sends us everything asking us to extract what is relevant.
With two people handling finances, one person does not know what the other person is doing. The academic is asked for the same information twice so that the accounts created by one can be reconciled by the other.
With many people involved in marketing, the academics are required to comment on the various drafts each person produces. There is no consolidated "near final" document that is submitted for review.
When a new IT system is purchased (e.g., marks database), it stores and exports data in a format that is different from the old IT system (e.g., student records). Rather than ensure that the two systems can communicate with each other, the academics are expected to convert one format into another.
The increase in support staff results in an increase workload for academics as there are no clear processes on what the support staff are supposed to follow. When academics complain of an increased workload, more support staff are hired without changing the process.
In my experience the workload actually increases. I will give a few examples.
When there was only one academic support officer, they knew what subjects we were teaching and sent us the data for only those classes. Now with layers of middle "support" staff, the person sending us that data does not know who is teaching what and sends us everything asking us to extract what is relevant.
With two people handling finances, one person does not know what the other person is doing. The academic is asked for the same information twice so that the accounts created by one can be reconciled by the other.
With many people involved in marketing, the academics are required to comment on the various drafts each person produces. There is no consolidated "near final" document that is submitted for review.
When a new IT system is purchased (e.g., marks database), it stores and exports data in a format that is different from the old IT system (e.g., student records). Rather than ensure that the two systems can communicate with each other, the academics are expected to convert one format into another.
The increase in support staff results in an increase workload for academics as there are no clear processes on what the support staff are supposed to follow. When academics complain of an increased workload, more support staff are hired without changing the process.
posted by PK at
3:25 PM
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