Research shows that faculty members spend a lot of time working, which raises the question: Are professors satisfied with their jobs?
A new study by the TIAA Institute sorted data on faculty members’ attitudes about work according to the type of institution at which they worked. And because colleges invest so much money in their faculties, a report on the study says, higher-education leaders should better understand the factors that affect job satisfaction — and institutional culture is key.
Karen L. Webber, an associate professor of higher education at the University of Georgia, analyzed faculty-satisfaction data from nearly 31,000 professors that were originally collected by the Collaborative for Academic Careers in Higher Education, at Harvard University.
Among the findings from that data set, which spanned three academic years: Respondents at baccalaureate colleges reported “significantly higher” overall satisfaction with both their institution and their department than did their colleagues in other work environments.
But the qualitative part of the study is what provides a noteworthy glimpse of the lived experience of faculty members, and of how they feel about their work environment.
Forty-two full-time tenured and tenure-track professors at six institutions in three regions of the country were asked to explain, among other things, how their experience as a faculty member differed from their expectations of the job, and how much time they spent teaching, doing research, and fulfilling service and administrative tasks. They also were asked questions about factors that can affect faculty satisfaction, including work-life balance, salary, mentoring, and tenure and promotion.
Here are five insights from those faculty interviews:
Most faculty members like their colleagues. Many professors said their colleagues were the “top factor” that affected their overall job satisfaction. Faculty members at master’s, doctoral, and research institutions spoke positively of their colleagues overall. At baccalaureate colleagues, the responses were mixed.
My colleagues are exceptional. It’s the best working environment I’ve ever had.
“My colleagues are exceptional. It’s the best working environment I’ve ever had,” said one professor. At the other end of the spectrum, a faculty member said that “there’s a huge amount of ego in academia … you get beaten down enough with people not being nice, and the egos — it makes it not as much of a nice place to work.”
Mentoring makes a difference. Faculty members want a mentor to show them the ropes. Professors at master’s and doctoral institutions saw such relationships as valuable if mentors had “the time and skills necessary” to guide them over the long term. At baccalaureate institutions, mentoring focused on getting acclimated to the campus culture and teaching.
Professors at research institutions wanted more mentoring than they were getting. The specific challenges for which they sought guidance: setting research agendas, landing grant money, and navigating the tenure process.
Faculty members of color are comparatively dissatisfied. On a 10-point scale, the average satisfaction score for all participants was 7.65. But there was a “noteworthy difference” in the scores by race: White professors averaged 7.87, while people of color had an average score of 7.27.
They didn’t know how to anticipate the additional work that faculty of color perform by mentoring students of color.
“I realized that when I got here there are very few minorities, and that started to affect me, and I began to feel very isolated …,” a professor said. “They hadn’t had a person of color before, so they didn’t know how to anticipate the additional work that faculty of color perform by mentoring students of color.”
Some professors don’t put much stock in faculty governance. The ability to effect change on a campus appeared to positively influence job satisfaction, the study found. But professors at research institutions didn’t seem to think faculty governance was as effective as did their peers at other types of institutions, unless they were in a position of leadership, such as a department chair or a dean.
University senate and that sort of thing are just sort of sham operations.
“University senate and that sort of thing are just sort of sham operations,” one professor said. “They don’t do anything productive as far as changing real policies or importance.”
Salary matters, but it’s not everything. According to the study, professors said they’d like to earn more money — particularly if they were employed at a master’s institution. And salary compression was an issue for two respondents at doctoral universities.
But overall the faculty lifestyle made up for it. As one professor said in a comment that the report described as typical: “Everybody wishes their salary was more — me included — but I have to say that I am satisfied with my salary. I think, you know, I’ve always viewed my job as a faculty member, that I am paid to pursue my own interests … I have always felt very privileged to be a faculty member.”
Audrey Williams June is a senior reporter who writes about the academic workplace, faculty pay, and work-life balance in academe. Contact her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @chronaudrey.
