Workload and Wellbeing
Quantitative Work overload is a common workplace stressor and contributor to negative wellbeing among employees. The AAU with your help hopes to show the College that Workload is an issue that is negatively impacting Members and their work life balance.
Making a difference to Faculty Workload one Collective Agreement at a time.
The most recent Faculty Collective Agreement for the first time has a formulaic approach to Faculty workload. While the final version is much simpler than the version put forward by the AAU during negotiations, it is a step in the right direction. What is unfortunate is the college has taken the approach that they have until the end of the collective agreement (August 2026) to implement these changes. We stated we agreed it would take time to implement the changes, not that the changes would be introduced over time. We are working with the College and hope that they see the benefit to a jointly agreed upon timeline for implementation of the new language to Article 19 and the new Faculty Workload Guidelines. The success of the implementation of the changes in Article 19 depend on 2 things:
Educating the Academic Chairs on the new language and SWF
The College assured the AAU that training for AC’s would be mandatory as all Faculty members will complete a Standard Workload Form in September of 2024. Unfortunately it was discovered by the AAU that training sessions held in June for AC’s were not mandatory and several AC’s were not even aware of any changes that they needed to know about for the upcoming Academic Year.
Union Executive and Staff, Campus Reps and Faculty Member’s knowledge of the new language in Article 19 & new Faculty Workload Guidelines. This entails:
Having a thorough understanding of your own Instructional Responsibilities and Related Professional Responsibilities.
If the College is not going to train AC’s on the SWF then it is up to us to train our Members on it so that when conversations are held in the fall, at least one party will have a general understanding of the purpose of the SWF. This knowledge will also help Members to have a more fulsome conversation with their AC regarding SWF when it is presented to them in the fall.
Bringing forward workload issues early and the AAU will support you in lodging any complaints even at Step 1 (Academic Chair). The collection of this data is crucial to the success of our next ask as the College was adamant in the last round of Collective Bargaining that Faculty Workload was not an issue as there were very few workload complaints that they knew of to support the AAU’s ask.
We need to hold NSCC accountable to what was agreed to and hard fought for at the table.
Please read through the information below and if you have a workload concern/complaint include the AAU in your correspondence with the College. You can reach us at info@atlanticau.ca
Synopsis of Changes and Additions
Click here for a brief overview of the changes to NSCC’s Flex Work Policy and Procedures regarding PS Employees effective September 1/2024.
NSCC Flex Work Policy, Rubric and Procedure documents
NSCC Flex Work Policy — New policy language and other changes re Flex Work (Policy changes effective September 1, 2024)
NSCC Flex Work Rubric — New rubric to define the eligibility of positions and activities for Flex Place work arrangements
NSCC Flex Work Procedure — This procedure outlines the process for requesting a flexible work arrangement
Duty to Accommodate
To learn more about accommodation-related inquiries, please click here for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission's Duty to Accommodate webpage.