Redundancies at your university?

[Oh2beatsea]

Are any of you working at one of the many universities that are struggling financially?
Our university announced the financial pressure it's under recently and they are now talking about redundancies. I know a few in the sector are in a similar position and wondered what stage you might be at and how has the process been managed? Have they offered voluntary redundancy first or have they gone straight to compulsory redundancies?
Unsettling times.

@MendaciousMabel and @SwordBilledHummingbird I'm sorry that this is happening. It seems that this VS process has been handled so poorly at so many institutions. This must be one of the most challenging times that we have all been through, both as staff and the relevant SLTs and yet mistakes have been made & things have been dealt with appallingly.
I hope you soon get sorted @MendaciousMabel .

@MendaciousMabel I'm sorry, what a way to add more stress to an already awful process.

I've just had a meeting to say my Vs has been accepted, hopefully this won't be reversed but I already feel a big sense of relief which speaks volumes.

Thanks for the kind messages. I have a lot going on in my personal life so VS would be a huge breather for me. I’m not sure I’ll manage everything much longer so will likely end up on sick leave anyway.

glad you got your VS @BlamBlamBlam 😊

Maybe now is the time to go off with stress, they might consider your VS more favourably and God knows it sounds a stressful situation.

I suspect your friend’s children have spun her a line to cover up poor attendance or assessment marks 😂 or that they’re getting additional online learning support. I, in common with most teaching staff, deliver lectures live but record them and post them online for students who can’t make the lecture, or if there’s a particularly tricky concept or assessment I’ll make a short video to elaborate on what we’ve done in class.

Universities have had boots on the ground for lectures and seminars as soon as they were legally allowed to - survey after survey showed that both staff and students preferred face to face. Academics have always been able to work from home so hybrid working isn’t some sort of novelty to aspire to.

Came back to update, I was denied VS as I am too important to lose apparently. I’m gutted and to top it all off I was actually unwell the week I was told. I came back to no work actioned and I’ve just spent the entirety of this week trying to single-handedly process resit exam boards as none of my colleagues seemed to be able to help or support with this. I’m still not well but I feel like I can never be off if the work just isn’t going to be done in my absence. I’m a lower grade admin in a PS team ffs I shouldn’t have to worry like this.

Sorry to hear that Mabel. I wouldn’t normally say this, but get signed off for a few weeks. Let them sort it out with their other “valued PS staff”. Are you near other universities or can you look for jobs in another team in yours? The advantage of being admin is that you can be a little more mobile than the academics. The culture (and work) can be really different in different teams so you might be happier elsewhere. Take some sick leave to think about your next move.

I do feel like at this point I’ve got no choice as the feeling of being walked over and doing a job that is at least a grade above my actual grade isn’t helping my already very poor mental health. I’ve been so upfront with my manager about how stressed I am at the moment and whilst he is great at offering me very flexible working, he offers absolutely no practical support. Asking how I am only helps me so much when I’m drowning in work that has to be done and cannot just be left for someone else in the hope they deal with it.

I am lucky that I am in reasonable commuting distance of 4 unis, I’ve been looking at the jobs but not much of anything. I’ve always wanted to work more on the student wellbeing side so I am keeping my eyes open for any opportunities there.

Our problem is that letting people leave who are in the lgps and over 55 is just so ridiculously expensive because we have to augment their pensions that we simply don’t make a saving. It would cost us money to remove their role.