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ABSTRACT
Workplace stress in higher education has increased dramatically over the past decade and many consequences have been experienced as a result. Little is understood about the well-being of those employed in higher education and the need for improvement. Enthusiastic faculty members are an asset to their colleges and universities and organizations need to protect their human capital. Organizations have an obligation to review these stressors, the consequences of burnout, and some ways to mitigate the problem. In this paper, the author will discuss some factors that have led to organizational stressors in higher education such as workload, tenure status as well as the tenure process, environmental changes, technostress, and leadership roles. The recent pandemic has even contributed to the stress and lack of employee well-being in higher education. Long term stress can lead to exhaustion and burnout. Burnout can lead to lower engagement, productivity, job satisfaction, quality of work, turnover, and other problems. Stress does not have to be detrimental to employees and the organization. Some solutions to help academics avoid burnout include managing expectations, coping strategies, and organizational interventions will be examined. Organizations can do quite a bit to alleviate the stress for employees and provide perceived organizational support with minimal costs and maximum benefits. A need for perceived organizational support will also be offered as a potential solution. Several propositions are included for further study and review.
Key Words: Higher Education, Stress, Perceived Organizational Support, Burnout, Workload
INTRODUCTION
A job in academia at least until the late 1990's was considered to be a low stress job, but manychanges have occurred in the past couple of decades from changes in management, increased competition, changing activities, changing cultures, teaching loads, online classes, increased expectations for research and even administrative responsibilities have increased stress among academics.
Many academics are starting to experience emotional exhaustion, decreased satisfaction, and decreased engagement all leading to burnout (Coetzee et al 2019). In higher education, their greatest asset is their faculty member's expertise and insight which needs to bepreserved (Curnalia & Mermer, 2019).
WORKPLACE STRESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Workplace stress in higher education is a global issue (Du Plessis, 2020; Rakshit & Sharma, 2016; Mudrak et al., 2016). Increased work demands can lead to longer hours and many additional...