Worries at work

The memories of the last financial restructuring, with its threat of redundancies, were still fresh. Nobody had been made redundant, but the scars were still raw. Fortunately, we as a School were recruiting well, so there was a feeling we wouldn’t be facing anything like that anytime soon again. On the contrary; we were recruiting so well we were allowed to hire more staff. Hurray! 

This announcement of jobs to be advertised came yonks ago. I can’t quite remember how long! But long. And then endless faffing followed. Every staff meeting we had, the Head of School wanted to discuss exactly what kind of expertise we needed. Get on with it! Get the people in! 

By last January we at least got two posts filled; the replacement of a lady who had taken voluntary redundancy, and a Welsh medium lecturer. But we had been promised 7 posts more. We had to move fast! If you don’t have someone in place by September, they are of limited use in reducing the workload for that academic year. By now it’s May. We are now finally advertising three jobs, plus one temporary job to replace someone who is going elsewhere for a year, and which is only advertised internally, but there is almost no way the permanent people will be in post by the start of term. An additional complication is that this is an awkward time to advertise a job, and as well, they will only advertise for a few weeks. We can only hope that qualified people will even apply! If they don't, we're back to square one. 

Then the recruitment team gave an update. They expected 320 freshers! We already struggled with 200. We have to run practicals several times over as we can’t fit the entire cohort in a lab. The labs struggle to clear up after the previous practical and get ready for the next, as this way they come thick and fast. There aren’t many lecture rooms that can hold that many students. Tutorial groups become big and unwieldy. 

The mood in the room got rather gloomy. One person was serious about wanting to leave. One other was joking about early retirement, but if we get these student numbers, how long will that stay a joke? The risk is a bit that these student numbers will push people over the edge, with consequences for everyone. To be honest, I hope this estimate will turn out to be too high! You never really know how many students you get until term starts. We will wait and see, and hope for the best…