Left Behind: The Impact of Job Cuts
When Reda (not her real name) came to meet with me, she explained that two of her colleagues had lost their jobs in May due to SFU budget cuts. “We were all so afraid to lose our jobs,” Reda said. “When I kept my job, at first, I felt relieved. Now I don’t know anymore.”
Reda went on to describe what had happened in the wake of her colleagues losing their positions. Duties that her colleagues had performed were now added to her job description. She not only had to take on jobs that she’d never done before or even knew how to do, but her full-time job expanded by 50%—she was now being directed to do the jobs of one and a half people.
“I’m very afraid,” Reda said. “I can’t do it all. I can barely keep up. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to get performance managed for not doing a good job. I’m going to burn out.”
Reda’s story is by no means uncommon following the position eliminations of over 50 APSA members this spring. This total doesn’t include temporary APSA members whose contracts weren’t renewed or were ended early. In most cases where continuing members lost their jobs, the rationale from the University was that the SFU's budget difficulties necessitated the position eliminations. What didn’t vanish, in many cases, was the necessary workload. Instead of, for example, three people doing the work of three full-time equivalents, two people are now expected to do so or even just one person: yes, one person doing the work formerly accomplished by three people. Even in these cases of excessive workload, overtime claims are expected to be avoided due to the ongoing budget pressures.
Many of you may be feeling the pressure of a smaller workforce expected to do more with less. The expected consequences will likely be burnout, illness and searches for employment elsewhere. If you’re a manager or supervisor, you may also be faced with pressure to push your teams to do more with fewer resources, especially personnel. In many cases, you may also fear what Reda fears: being performance-managed for necessary work going undone.
All this can feel very stressful and demoralizing: your feelings are valid, and you’re by no means alone in feeling and thinking how you do. To help us help you, we’ve created a survey that allows you to provide your anonymous feedback on these pressing issues. We want to collect your stories so that we can get a solid idea of how widespread the issues I’ve raised above are and also to lobby SFU's senior administration for the lessening of the workload pressures APSA members like you are facing.
Some questions to consider as you take the survey:
- Are you being asked to take on more work than you can reasonably do?
- Are you being asked to take on leadership duties with no increase in your salary grade?
- Are you being asked to take on work performed by former CUPE staff or staff from other employee groups?
- Are you being asked to work beyond a regular work week of 36 hours and not claim any overtime?
- Do you feel pressure not to claim overtime even though you work more than 7.2 hours a day or more than 36 hours a week?
- Are you burning out from an extra workload?
- Has anyone asked you how you’re doing with the extra workload you’re taking on?
- Are your hybrid days working from home being reduced?
- Do you feel that you might be performance-managed or otherwise disciplined if you don’t do all the extra work you’ve been tasked with?
These are just a few questions to consider as you consider the survey. Of course, if you’d prefer to meet with us one-on-one, we’re happy to do so. Meetings with us are always 100% confidential. We're here for you.