I’m not at #UCUstrike next week (my union didn’t meet the threshold), but I support it. It’s not about money.

Last week, I received £50 through the Staff Reward Scheme. It’s nice to get £50, don’t get me wrong, but let’s take a look at what my manager wrote to get it.

“There have been real challenges for this team… [tasks]… have all taken their toll on the team. They have consistently worked over and above what is expected of their roles, putting their health at risk…

"They have worked a lot of additional hours which they will get back in time, but this office would not function if the remaining members of the team refused to cover the absences of others. The team have covered more than one person’s role for a sustained period of time.”

This isn't unusual, to be honest. Only the £50 is unusual. Almost every university team I know, in universities across the UK, is plagued with stress- and exhaustion-related sickness.

There are two of us working specifically on assessment, and we’ve both been off sick for a few days recently, but dragged ourselves into work before we were fit because otherwise no postgraduates would be receiving their degrees this year.

There are more than fifty exams in our School this semester, and if I don’t go to work on Monday we’ll miss a central deadline; instead of being produced centrally, every single paper will need to be printed by our team, easily wiping out a week’s work for one person.

Even now, I’ve only got half of those exams. I make myself unpopular chasing academics, but it’s hardly their fault – workload doesn’t give any breathing space to *write* the exams. I know many of them have spent precious weekends and long evenings getting exams written.

The mantra of “prioritise!” is popular, but when you are already prioritising your list of priorities and still don’t have enough time to complete them, it isn’t enough. Let alone time to reflect, to experiment, to make things better.

There is simply no slack in the system, and every tiny problem causes ripples that spread and grow, like a moment’s hesitation on the motorway causing a ten-mile tailback. I'm *still* resolving issues that started back in June, before I worked here.

Of course, the overwork means it's taking ages to resolve each of those issues (and by "issues", I mean significant problems for actual students, such as not being allowed to graduate, or being 6 weeks into retaking a year without knowing if they're allowed to).

Each delay begets more delays, and makes problems more complex, so they take more time from more people to solve. A minor oversight from an exhausted course leader turns into tens of hours of work justifying a request to change an incorrect mark after publication.

Most of us have seen or received emails insisting that working to contract – doing the job you actually agreed, legally, to do in return for your salary – is failing to fulfil your responsibilities. It isn’t.

But if staff ever did just *stop* doing the myriad extra duties, extra hours and favours British academia has grown dependent on, it would crumple like tissue paper.

Staff wellbeing - and its natural, inescapable impact on students' experience and wellbeing - have been an afterthought for far too long. The odd yoga hour or Wellbeing Day doesn't cut it.

Just hire more staff already.
#UCUstrike