Structural overtime for Dutch scientists leads in the most extreme cases to relationship problems, estrangement from their children and social isolation. This is evident from a poll held by pressure group WOinActie among more than 700 scientists, 80 of whom work at Radboud University.

In December, pressure group WOinActie joined the unions Algemeen Onderwijsbond and FNV in calling on scientists to report instances of structural overtime. Among the 720 reports, around 80 were from Radboud University scientists. This morning, the pressure group filed a collective report with the Labour Inspectorate (Arbeidsinspectie) of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.

And what did that reveal? Anyone working too many hours does so to a serious degree and without any improvement in sight. Such an extremely high work pressure leads to stress and psychological problems. ‘We received very detailed reports’, says Marijtje Jongsma of science union VAWO and co-author of the report.

‘Scientists report that their structural overtime has led to relationship problems, estrangement from their children, fear of starting a family, social isolation, heart palpitations, panic attacks and chronic tiredness.’

Mindfulness

The cause of that work pressure is not only the pressure to perform and make applications for funding, but also the teaching carried out by scientists. Lecturers in particular report the highest numbers of hours of overtime, according to Jongsma. ‘And anyone both teaching and carrying out research sees all their normal working hours being swallowed up by the teaching. This means that research work has to be done in the evenings and on weekends.’

The fact that Dutch scientists suffer from high work pressure is nothing new. All universities now have a plan in place to combat work pressure, and that includes Radboud University. Will it be enough to tackle the issue? ‘According to the respondents, only the measures which reduce the number of tasks have any effect’, says Jongsma. ‘Take for example more colleagues being taken on or more time being given for writing research proposals.’

Jongsma feels that courses in time management or mindfulness have an adverse effect, because they give staff the idea that their burnout is their own fault. The same applies to looking for different working methods, since that takes a lot of time. ‘If you have to deal with the same amount of teaching material in a shorter programme, that is more likely to raise the work pressure than lower it’, says Jongsma.

Extra lecturers

In order to tackle the problems, WOinActie is sticking to its demand for a structural investment in scientific education of 1.15 billion euros a year. ‘That would enable extra university lecturers to be taken on’, explains Jongsma.

Member of the Dutch House of Representatives for Groen Links, Lisa Westerveld, announced today on Twitter that she intends to ask questions about this of Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven (D66) in the House.