Colleagues on temporary contracts - Worrying results of survey on corona-related delays
9 February 2021
We, the staff council for academic personnel, are extremely concerned about the situation of academic staff pursuing further qualification on temporary contracts. The pandemic and the measures undertaken to fight it have led in many ways to a worsening of working conditions for almost a year now. At the same time, these temporary contracts are coming to an end, mostly without any changes. Therefore, we asked the colleagues we represent about their work situation at the end of January 2021.
We would like to share some of the results with you, many of which we consider very worrying:
1. The high rate of participation in our survey should serve as an indication of how precarious the situation of our colleagues is – 1,207 members of staff took part, of whom 1,041 (ca. 50%) have a temporary contract.
2. Of these 1,041 colleagues with temporary contracts (doctoral/habilitation/junior professor), approximately 70% (733) stated that they would not be able to achieve their qualification goal before their contract ended due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic or that they would require an extension of their contract in order to have a chance of doing so.
3. The main reasons given for such delays were the closing of university buildings (offices, laboratories, libraries) (74%), the lack of meaningful exchange with other scientists (59%), as well as home schooling and taking care of children who would normally attend kindergarten (28%). Additional reasons given were the failure to gather data and conduct field research, psychological stress including depression and a limited ability to work at home, a higher demand for counselling of students as well as the absence of carers due to illness (41%). The closing of the university and the resulting restrictions in the ability to work are thus the dominant causes for not achieving one’s qualification goals. Further factors include increased effort in digital teaching and supervision. Additionally, pandemic-related difficulties in the family environment were also given.
4. On average, an extension requirement of ca. eight months was given – even taking into account differences between the faculties and the status groups.
5. In approximately 50% of the cases where the contract should be extended, those who responded stated that this need had not been addressed by either their superiors or themselves to date. In approximately 10% of responses, there had been either a commitment or a refusal to extend the contract. In approximately 23% of cases, the possibility of an extension remains unclear. The most frequent reasons for not renewing contracts are ‘no money’ and ‘categorical refusal’.
We urgently request the deans the president and chancellor to acknowledge this worrying situation and to do everything in their power to ensure that those on temporary contracts can achieve their qualification goals while they are still employed at the University of Hamburg. Even under pandemic conditions, it is not acceptable that an entire generation of young scientists fail to achieve their goals or only do so after they are no longer employed. We urge you to fulfil your leadership responsibility and to clearly communicate extension options, to extend contracts and to advocate on all levels that additional funds, e.g. those made available by the BWFGB [Science, Research, Equal Opportunities and Districts Authority in Hamburg], flow into the extension of temporary qualification positions!
Further details of the survey are available on the UHH intranet or with VPN registration:
https://www.wipr.uni-hamburg.de/6-themen/wipr2021-umfrageergebnisse-pandemie-verlaengerungsbedarf.pdf
The staff council for academic personnel is happy to advise you at any time should you have any questions and or require assistance.