Redundancies at the University of Birmingham

[supermum52]

Hi everyone,

The University of Birmingham has just announced its voluntary leavers scheme which is quite a generous package. I stand to gain 72,000, 30000 of which is tax-free. I am 52 years of age with two teenagers, aged 13 and 16 who are also very demanding. I am really fed up with the culture of overwork and stress at UoB and have wanted to leave for quite some time. At the same time, it is a well-paying job. The leavers package really tempts me. Any advice on the direction I should take would be appreciated.

Is assoc prof grade 9/ level above senior lecturer? If so, that's the same as me. I took a much smaller payout (3 months) and have managed to find a job at the same level, but was quite lucky to do so I think, timing just worked out.

Some of the comments have given me an idea: wait until 27/28 and see could I leverage my publications then to get a job. DH has a good job so he can shoulder the expensas until then. I also have rental income. Of course, this idea is premised on future desperation of departments to increase their REF score. Hope It works.

Congratulations. How did you manage that feat?

It is about 18 months pay really. I think It is a super deal but as with everything else, there are downsides.

I always wondered how senior females managed to survive those gladitorial macho fights in the upper echelons. Must take some resilience.

I think you would be fool hardy not to take this package. I'm sure there will be lots of compulsory redundancies in the sector in the coming future, so take the money and run.

Yes but I used to smash things. I used to take my wine bottles to the recycling bin and throw them in, one at a time, and hear them smash. Better than when I broke the dishwasher in a moment of impotent rage.

There are things I miss about UoB - the rare books library and the Barber. And that lovely campus. And Birmingham was so easy to get away from to where I liked to be.

Did you ever get any psychosomatic illness? You must have been a good actress, supppressing all that rage, in front of those chauvinista.

Chauvinists The mobile keeps changing my text.

Chauvinists. Finally.

re @YellowAsteroid @EBoo80 @supermum52 and to all those suggesting it....

As an ECR within a couple of years from finishing my PhD.....please don't take a (generous) voluntary redundancy payout and apply for postdocs/ RAs as a former Associate Prof - especially when you say you have a high earning DH and rental income (ie, not desperate for work).

I thought half the point of costing RAs into grants was to provide development/ mentoring/ training/ job opportunities for ECRs - there is a load of UKRI guidance on this.

I feel so lucky I even got an RA position (which is now drawing to a close).... How are we meant to compete against former Profs?

@GreenSmithing

If former seniors applying for RAs intended for ECRs becomes a systematic thing, I can see post phd year limits starting to develop for those jobs (as there are for many fellowships)....

(this could mean the danger of a time limit on years spent on postdocs so if you don't get permanent job in that time, you're screwed, like in Germany - so not in favour of that system. just wish people would see the obvious problem of a professor applying for those roles)

really staggering. will be bringing this up at ECR forum

What field op? I think the subject area strongly influences the chances of securing another post.

@wtw anyone can apply for any job they want. If you think RA positions shouldn't go to previously more senior academics then you should direct those thoughts to the ones doing the hiring, not the applicants.

I agree that we can go for what job we like I am not sacrificing myself for ECRs when I have bills to pay and research to do. Not that I'd ever be hired at my advanced years ...but the principle. I get rather fed up with the protect ECRs rhetoric at my place, when the long timers are so totally on the rack we are literally falling apart .

Hi @wtw - good luck with your job hunt.

As someone who sits on probably 2-3 recruitment panels per year, I don’t think seniority inevitably wins out in these situations at all. However the sector is contracting sharply and increased competition for posts is always going to be the result.

@felissamy

OP has a job. She can do her research and pay her mortgage. If you have your own research to do and a permanent post why on earth quit and apply for RAs. Apply for advanced and medium career fellowships and apply for grants with decent buy out. ECRs also have research/ mortgage/ jobs/ children and are of all ages.

I would assume anyone research active would be intermittently involved in hiring post docs, this is certainly the situation where I am. Of course people can apply wherever, excellent point about addressing to those hiring, will do that.

Think you are also romanticising the RA role. It’s the least autonomous since you’re on the hook to deliver the fairies promised on the grant so the PI can have the freedom. It’s a brutal and dispiriting system.

That is a very generous offer and certainly more than CS will be. A couple of caveats - I agree that an RA position is not free of interference at all and if that's what you want I'd suggest you look outside academics completely. And I do take the PP's point that it is hard for younger people entering academia so do we need to make it even harder for them?

My biggest caveat is that VS is usually only agreed for people they don't want to keep. So if you are good at your job they usually don't take you! What usually happens (and I've been through a few rounds of this now) is that the numpties go and what little work they did is just dumped on you.

I recognise your point about former associate profs competing against ECRs. However, we do live in a democracy and I think anyone who wants to can compete in the labour market. I am in the History field (I do not wish to state my specialism so as to remain anonymous) and like @BarbaraHoward , I feel that it is the remit of the PI to enforce such a rule, if need be.

As a PI I would not be keen at all to hire former assoc profs. They’d want to continue their own research rather than doing the project funded on my grant. And I like helping young people in their careers.

Certainly, I am sure a lot of PIs feel that way, but my point is that the competition cannot be ringfenced from the get-go.

Lol this is what happens when you choose to spend £££ in a relatively low paid profession. There’s always someone cheaper with more experience.

Choose to spend £? How do you mean sorry.