Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t know how to navigate university bureaucracy (a topic that deserves its own column) without our support staff. But today, at many universities, including EUR, the support staff is growing faster than the academic staff. So I have to ask: are we truly that needy, or has hiring support become the university’s go-to response every time academics raise a concern? Even as more staff are hired, our hopes that things might become easier are quickly dashed by a constant stream of new, confusing rules. Take the Diversity Travel issue as an example. This initiative, instead of simplifying things, added layers of uncertainty about who to contact and what documents to prepare. We now spend more time figuring out how to get help than actually receiving it.
Then there are the workshops. The ever-growing number of staff workshops. We are frequently invited, and sometimes even required, to attend sessions that, in theory, are meant to address our challenges. But how is that a more affordable or effective fix? More people are hired, and more hours of our time are spent sitting through workshops that often do not match our concerns. For instance, when academics raise issues about the lack of funding for open-access publishing, we are invited to another workshop on the importance of open science.
This is not just my personal rant. Employee mental health surveys consistently show that academics are increasingly struggling. But how is that possible when we now have more support than ever? Perhaps the problem is that, despite the good intentions behind the system, the growing maze of procedures and policies has made the university less efficient and ultimately less supportive.
I genuinely believe that every support staff member wants to help, and I truly appreciate their efforts. But the reality is that, instead of bridging the gap between us, the system often creates more distance. Getting help has become a process in itself. One that demands even more of our time and energy. So if the real goal of this system is to discourage us from seeking support, then it works like clockwork. But if the goal is to provide meaningful support, we are doing it the wrong way.
