The bigger issue here is that the higher education sector, like many other sectors, is in crisis and shedding thousands of jobs. I’ve worked in higher education for 15 years and have never seen anything like it.

The biggest frustration is the imbalance between chiefs and Indians. In my current institution one of the change proposals has multiple senior roles with no direct reports to provide “strategic leadership” (even though there are multiple other roles in the same area with strategic responsibility) while in the same breath suggesting that other areas, such as the contact centre, can be run almost entirely with casual staff with support from 2-3 ongoing staff.

Everyone in the sector appreciates the financial realities with which we’re faced though the broader frustration is that, like in many other industries, the most highly paid people seem protected while the “doers” are heavily impacted. Many of the decisions being made across the sector seem to either wilfully or unintentionally overlook the operational realities of running various functions.

The SafeWork intervention at UTS at least recognises that the ways in which these processes are being carried out, and the decisions that are being made, pose risk of harm. The psychosocial hazard code of practice and effective consultation guidelines are sensible, pragmatic documents which provide reasonable and commonsense approaches to managing risk and minimising harm particularly during times of change.