Time to “shift gear” on workloads at  RMIT

The university announces well-being leave and a “slow-down”

“While workload has certainly been a concern for the VCE since the pandemic began, relief provided to date has clearly not been tangible enough,” Interim VC Dionne Higgins told staff yesterday.

And so, management announces five days additional leave for continuing and fixed-term staff, available until December 17. Plus there will be a university-wide “slowdown” August 30-September 3.

“This well-being leave is a chance for our people, including this leadership group, to simply step away from work, take a well-deserved break and recharge,” Ms Higgins states.

But she adds the benefits of the break will only last, if “we return to a more manageable and sustainable workload.” University leaders are accordingly working with their teams to, “implement rigorous prioritisation of work through to the end of the year. It’s about proactively deciding what is essential and what can be stopped, paused or reassigned to 2022.”