Paid leave for carers and a “carer’s passport” should be introduced by UK universities to help ease the pressure on staff juggling work and personal commitments, according to a new report.
While UK higher education has made efforts to address barriers to success faced by women and ethnic minority groups through schemes such as Advance HE’s Athena Swan and the Race Equality Charter, help for those with often complex caring commitments has not been so readily available, says from researchers at Anglia Ruskin University.
The academics gathered responses from 1,080 university staff with caring responsibilities.
Of these respondents – of which 81 per cent were women – 18 per cent cared for elderly parents, 18 per cent for a child with special educational needs and 8 per cent for a partner.
Nearly half (46 per cent) cared for a child without special needs, while about a quarter (24 per cent) had at least two different kinds of caring responsibilities.
Some 60 per cent of participants described juggling the demands of care and paid work as “difficult”, with 56 per cent stating they dedicated “a few hours each day” to these commitments. Additionally, 25 per cent said they provided 24-hour care.
Asked whether their dual role had impacted on their career development or progression, 32 per cent said it had a major effect while 40 per cent believe it had a moderate impact.
Introducing a “carer’s passport” – already used across the and within a handful of UK universities, though mainly for students – is one measure that could help to more easily document the challenges faced by certain staff, the report’s lead author Marie-Pierre Moreau told 51吃瓜.
“When you are a carer you often rely on the goodwill of your line manager to get the support you need. Sometimes you might have someone who is very supportive but there is often very little consistency in what happens and your line manager is likely to change over time too,” said Moreau.
She added the carer’s passport could remove the need for difficult and often emotional conversations with new members of staff.
“Without it you might need to tell your story again and again, which can be difficult given the emotional issues involved with caring,” said Moreau, adding that the carer’s passport could be edited to allow staff to only share information they feel comfortable doing so.?
University staff interviewed for the project explained how they often felt reluctant to explain their personal caring commitments beyond caring for their children, said Moreau.
“If your child has specific needs, you care for an elderly relative or you have a partner with a long-term serious illness, then you may be facing the highest level of struggle but will often feel very unable to talk about this. The needs of these people are often very unpredictable so it’s important that line managers know about these pressures,” she continued.
Universities should also consider paid leave for carers, she said, adding that although this is already provided at some UK institutions, very few details on the extent of payments are available.?
“There is already a legal requirement to offer unpaid leave to carers in certain circumstances but, where it was provided, people really appreciated paid leave to get them through some of the toughest times in their lives,” she said.
“Some universities are already doing this and going beyond the legal requirements in this area but there is still a massive difference between institutions,” she added.
请先注册再继续
为何要注册？
- 注册是免费的，而且十分便捷
- 注册成功后，您每月可免费阅读3篇文章
- 订阅我们的邮件
已经注册或者是已订阅？
