I have been asked to write a bit about my experience of the EASE process, which our faculty has been through recently. It’s difficult to know where to start but my main experience has been one of dehumanization, as this is how the whole process is conceptualized, carried out and that also seems to be what it aims to achieve.
It is designed to disentangle messy human relationships and to set up structures that are (seemingly) clear cut, one size fits all and de-personalised. This will make it easier for senior UCL and faculty management to move people around, run reports, compare how well each unit functions with regard to the criteria they regard as important, and ensure minimum service level standards. It eliminates one type of silo (between faculty and departmental teaching administration) while creating several others (between teaching administration and academic staff, and between teaching administrators and students). It will also mean that departments, and particularly academic staff in departments, can be controlled more easily in future.
Some of the key lessons I wish I’d understood earlier are:
- Do not trust anything the EASE project team says. We were told that there will be a genuine consultation process, that the initial proposal was merely a draft and that our input would be seriously considered. Once the consultation process concluded (without any real changes) and we requested more time to understand the impact it would have on us, we were told that we should have been prepared for the outcome as this was explained in the consultation document.
- Do not waste your time with drafting detailed responses to the consultation document (see above).
- Start to seriously plan for life after UCL, apply for alternative jobs elsewhere or consider different career paths. The organisation you will work for will be like most other corporate workplaces so you may was well consider jobs outside of the UK HE sector. If you are on a grade that may be eligible for redundancy payment, you may want to be a bit more patient!
- Do not assume that EASE teams will follow UCL processes or procedure, or good practice in supporting staff in difficult situations – policies including EDI related policies, FoI, Grievance policy are actively circumvented in this process. Don’t get too invested in expecting respect, fairness or justice.
- Make sure you are aware of your rights, consult UCL policies and your union from an early stage.
- BUT if you work at faculty level – congratulations, you’ve hit the jackpot! It is very unlikely that you will be negatively affected by the process, and in fact it’s likely that additional opportunities will come your way.
