Number of Warwick staff seeking counselling increases 316% in six years

The number of staff accessing counselling services at the University of Warwick has increased by 316%, according to a new report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI).

Data from 59 institutions over a period of 6 years up to 2015 found that, following Warwick, the University of Kent saw a 292% increase, Brunel University with a rise of 172%, and Newcastle University at 126%.

The University told The Guardian that the figures are four years old and that the Employee Assistance Programme for staff wellbeing was introduced last month in partnership with Health Assured.

It was launched “to provide all Warwick salaried employees with free access to additional wellbeing support” and help staff “achieve a positive balance”, according to Dr Hannah Friend, Director of Wellbeing and Safeguarding at Warwick.

Duncan Adam, president of the University and College Union (UCU) branch at Warwick, said: “Unfortunately the figures which are reported for Warwick staff seeking counselling services are no surprise to the Warwick UCU branch and its caseworkers who deal with numerous cases which involve a mental wellbeing component.”

“It’s all very well for the university to dismiss the figures as four years old, but their recent actions do suggest that they are aware there’s a problem. However, yet again, their solution focuses on entirely the wrong aspect of the issue,” he added.

“The university response to shock events and to long-term structural problems has always been to medicalise those affected rather than to look at its own role in production of the problem.”

It’s all very well for the university to dismiss the figures as four years old, but their recent actions do suggest that they are aware there’s a problem

– Duncan Adam

He further commented: “The university, rather than adding greater curative provision, should look at measures for preventing such situations developing by addressing serious issues of increased precarity, work intensification, unreasonable workloads and inflexible line management.”

HEPI also revealed statistics on referrals of staff to occupational health services. Kent topped the list with a 424% increase from over 70 to almost 400 referrals, which rose by 179% and 159% at the universities of Cambridge and Essex respectively.

HEPI acknowledged that the increases may be partly explained by increased access to counselling services.

According to the higher education think tank, the three main factors of the increases were “new workload models”, “more directive approaches to performance management”, and “short-term contracts, which provide less security”.

The report proposes several solutions to “ease the toll on staff”, including “not scheduling workloads ‘up to the max’” to provide the time needed “for scholarly contemplation and experimentation”.

Others were “introducing more reasonable expectations of staff”, and “ensuring career pathways” have development opportunities and employment security.

As university fees have risen in England and Wales, the pressure to satisfy increasing student expectations has fallen on teaching staff

– Dr Liz Morrish

Dr Liz Morrish, who is an independent scholar and Visiting Fellow at York St John University, authored the report.

She explained: “In academic life, there are no peaks and troughs of work anymore as the pace continues relentlessly throughout the year.

“As university fees have risen in England and Wales, the pressure to satisfy increasing student expectations has fallen on teaching staff. Managers have increased their demands on the academic workforce over concern about university rankings and league tables,” she said. “At the same time, repeated research and teaching audits have created a culture of workplace surveillance.

“Academics are inherently vulnerable to overwork and self-criticism, but the sources of stress have now multiplied to the point that many are at breaking point.”

“It is essential to take steps now to make universities more humane and rewarding workplaces which allow talented individuals to survive and thrive,” she added.

In response to the report, Universities UK (UUK) said that “many practical initiatives” across the sector support staff and their mental health and career paths, as well as the workplace cultures.

“Universities do recognise that there is more that can be done to create the supportive working environments in which both academic and professional staff thrive, including ongoing conversations about the structural conditions of work in higher education,” they added.

The Department for Education (DfE) added that universities “like, all employers, have a duty of care to their employees”, and that it is expected of them to “take them seriously”.