States of precarity in UK Higher Education geography

Precarious working conditions are increasingly common throughout academia – from the proliferation of fixed term contracts (FTCs) to widespread restructuring and redundancies.

This report provides a snapshot of the immediate and long-term effects of precarity within UK HE Geography across career stages.

Importantly, as well as engaging with key and pressing issues, the report provides a series of recommendations and best practice resources to support more equitable and caring departmental working cultures.

Key findings

1. Precarity is a defining feature of academic life and experiences of insecurity extend far beyond the terms of a contract. Participants reported that FTCs undermined wellbeing, stability, and long-term planning.
2. Insecurity is reported widely beyond fixed term contracts. Almost half (45%) of participants on permanent contracts - regardless of career stage or age - described feeling at least somewhat precarious in their current positions.
3. The emotional and psychological costs of precarity are significant. 49.4% of colleagues on permanent contracts reported long-lasting negative effects of FTCs on their wellbeing, while 84.9% of colleagues on FTCs reported that their contracts had negative impacts upon their wellbeing.
4. Repeated relocation for jobs disrupts relationships, family life, decision making, access to healthcare, and a sense of belonging. The challenges of relocation were particularly acute for international colleagues navigating restrictive visa regimes; those with chronic health conditions navigating healthcare support; LGBTQ+, and working-class background participants.
5. Precarity is not experienced evenly. Experiences of precarity are informed and shaped by intersectional factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, class, care giving status, and visa status.
6. Fixed-term roles were closely tied to exclusion and stalled progression. Many participants felt invisible within their institutions. 43.5% of all permanently employed staff who had previously worked on a FTC reported that they still experience the negative effects of FTCs on their professional lives.
7. Experiences of precarity among early career academics are shaped by a lack of understanding from more senior colleagues. Participants reported that senior colleagues, and those on open ended contracts, often struggled to grasp the structural and institutional challenges now facing early-career academics.

Key recommendations

Best Practice Action Plans: The Action Plans provide a range of practical interventions that can be taken by colleagues across career stages over the short and long term to support more equitable working cultures. The report recommends the embedding of these plans within departmental and institutional structures.

Raising awareness: Greater awareness is needed of the effects of precarity – both for individuals across career stages but also for the discipline as a whole. In addition to incorporating awareness raising resources, the report warns of the impacts of precarity on geographical thought and practice.

Lobbying for change: Lobbying is key to realising more equitable futures amidst a precarious climate in Higher Education. The report provides lobbying template letters for key issues, and acts a resource for generating engagement with precarious employment in the discipline and sector.