It is important to note that while the cross-tabulations in this report enable rich comparisons across many characteristics of interest, these results are based on a survey that used voluntary participation. Thus, non-sampling errors (e.g. coverage and nonresponse) may impact the quality of the results; especially, if different sub-groups of the population are systematically underrepresented in the sample.
This report is based on findings from a survey conducted at York University in August/September 2020. This study is a part of the COVID Homeworking for University Staff Survey (CHUSS) project. The CHUSS is an international research collaboration (including researchers at 14 universities – seven in Australia and seven in Canada) looking into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working arrangements of faculty and staff at universities, and it is led by Dr. David Peetz at Griffith University, Australia. Thus, original survey was designed and led by Professor Emeritus David Peetz and Professor Emeritus Glenda Strachan at Griffith University in Australia, then adapted slightly for the Canadian context, and administered at a total of seven universities in Australia and seven universities in Canada. The local research at York was led by Assistant Professor Kelly Pike, School of Human Resource Management, on behalf of the Global Labour Research Centre. Quantitative data analysis is being led by Assistant Professor James Chowhan, School of Human Resource Management. This research has received ethics review and approval by the Human Participants Review Sub-Committee, York University’s Ethics Review Board and conforms to the standards of the Canadian Tri-Council Research Ethics guidelines.The authors are grateful to GLRC Director Luann Good Gingrich for her guidance and ongoing support of the project, as well as to Andrew Mitchell for support with initial data management and analytics.Further, the authors are thankful for the following graphic and information design contributions: poster by Ingrid Wong (BDes ’23); website by Sean Reibling (BDes ’23) with guidance from Professor Angela Norwood and Lucy Bilson (BDes ’16, MDes ’20) in the Department of Design/AMPD.This report represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of York University.More information about the “COVID-19 Home-working by university staff survey” is available on the project home page.
Preliminary data consisting of general statistics of all York University faculty and staff who have participated in this survey.
Percentage of full-time and part-time faculty versus those in other positions within York University.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff who identify as part of a visible minority group.
Percentage of male, female, and non-binary faculty and staff who participated in this study.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who identify as Indigenous.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who are over versus under the age of 50.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who were born in Canada versus born elsewhere.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who have limitations on activity for various reasons.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who have childcare or non-children caring responsibilities.
Insight into the changes in work preferences of faculty and staff, including at-home, hybrid model, and fully in-person working.
The findings from these tables show that the working preference of the majority of staff at York University is to split their time between the office and home after the pandemic. This contrasts with the practices of staff before the pandemic, where nearly all other staff and most faculty reported working at the university before the pandemic.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, staff preferred to work and teach in-person. Not all courses made use of online learning tools such as eClass, and faculty members were required to hold lectures on campus.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of faculty members preferred a hybrid work model for teaching and researching. This could include a shift to more recorded or live-streamed lectures as well as a more online-based course structure while still keeping some of the positive elements of in-person interaction. Interestingly, the majority of non-faculty members (other staff) preferred to work in a fully-online environment.
Analyzing the shift in critical work factors for York University faculty and staff over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
This graph shows the changes in paid work hours that York University employees have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data suggests that the majority of staff have been unaffected, meaning paid work hours have stayed the same, while smaller proportions have experienced increases.
This chart shows the difference in hours spent on work as a result of the pandemic. Overall, the majority of York University employees indicated that despite their unchanged paid work hours (see the previous chart), most have found an increase in time spent on work.
This chart shows the changes in employee’s clarity of their work expectations. The data suggests a sizeable decrease in work expectation clarity after the transition to work from home and experienced over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Relatively smaller proportions of employees experienced an increase in work expectations clarity.
This chart illustrates the difference in daily productivity after transitioning to work from home practices at York University. The results suggest that there were substantive differences, both for job role and gender categories. It is interesting to note that the majority of faculty noticed a decrease in daily productivity while other staff noticed a significant increase. Further, a plurality of males identified decreases in personal daily productivity, while for females a plurality identified increases.
This chart depicts the difference in employee perceived quality of work during COVID-19. When comparing job role categories, it is interesting to note that for both faculty and other staff the majority staying the same; nonetheless, substantive proportions of faculty did report a decrease while other staff reported an increase in quality of work given the new working conditions.
How faculty and staff job satisfaction, stress, and work-life balance have changed over the transition to remote work.
This section examines the personal experiences of York University employees that are related to their well-being related to work during the pandemic. The results indicate an overall decrease in job satisfaction occurred, while a very substantive increase in stress was experienced. Further, large proportions of employees’ report an increase in work interference with personal life. The pathway of relationships is typically considered to flow from work interference with personal life to stress, and from stress to job satisfaction outcomes.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty and staff as well as all genders reported a majority decrease in overall job satisfaction. Interestingly, a minority of participants reported an increase, suggesting that different personality types or living situations may have a heavy influence on the response to working form home.
A drastic increase in work-related stress was reported across all job types and genders. Although this may be due to external factors such as living situations and uncertainty around the future of the pandemic, adapting to remote-teaching technologies can be frustrating and thus may have influenced this result.
Faculty and staff reported an increasing overlap between their professional and personal lives due to the lack of physical separation. However, this is particularly noticeable in non-faculty participants who say that work has taken time away from other daily activities and commitments.
Analysis of the shift in expectations and key workspace/environmental factors for faculty and staff during and post-pandemic.
This graph shows the changes in paid work hours that York University employees have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data suggests that the majority of staff have been unaffected, meaning paid work hours have stayed the same, while smaller proportions have experienced increases.
This chart shows the difference in hours spent on work as a result of the pandemic. Overall, the majority of York University employees indicated that despite their unchanged paid work hours (see the previous chart), most have found an increase in time spent on work.
This graph shows the changes in paid work hours that York University employees have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data suggests that the majority of staff have been unaffected, meaning paid work hours have stayed the same, while smaller proportions have experienced increases.
This chart shows the difference in hours spent on work as a result of the pandemic. Overall, the majority of York University employees indicated that despite their unchanged paid work hours (see the previous chart), most have found an increase in time spent on work.
Preliminary data consisting of general statistics of all York University faculty and staff who have participated in this survey.
Percentage of full-time and part-time faculty versus those in other positions within York University.
Percentage of male, female, and non-binary faculty and staff who participated in this study.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff who identify as part of a visible minority group.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who identify as Indigenous.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who are over versus under the age of 50.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who were born in Canada versus born elsewhere.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who have restrictions on activity for various reasons.
Percentage of York University faculty and staff participating in this study who have childcare or non-children caring responsibilities.
The findings from these tables show that the working preference of the majority of staff at York University shifts to working from home completely after the pandemic. This contrasts with the practices of staff before the pandemic, where nearly all other staff and most faculty reported working on campus before the pandemic.
This section presents the arrangement of work Before, During, and the preferred arrangement After COVID-19 based on Job Roles. The Job Roles characteristic is divided into "Faculty" and "Other Staff" variables.
The always work-from-home rates
dramatically increased during Covid-19 for both Faculty and Other Staff. After Covid-19, over 50% of Faculty staff preferred going back to in-person teaching and hybrid working, while the number of Other Staff who prefer working from home kept increasing in a slower pace.
This section presents the arrangement of work Before, During, and After COVID-19 based on Genders. The Genders characteristic is divided into "Men", "Women" and "Other" variables.
*Other includes Trans/Non-binary/Fluid/Other
The always work-from-home rates
rose strikingly during Covid-19 for all genders. After Covid-19, the work-from-home trend gradually increased for Woman, while a drop in the rates for Man and Trans/Non-binary/Fluid/Other are noticeable.
of the respondents reported increase in working from home after Covid-19.
of the respondents preferred the new working arrangement post-pandemic.
Analyzing the shift in critical work factors for York University faculty and staff over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Summary
This graph shows the changes in work factors that York University employees have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data suggests that staff, except for Faculty, experienced not only an increase in actual hours spent on work, but also improvements in productivity and work quality. On the other hand, Faculty saw a decrease in both productivity and work quality despite more actual work hours were reported.
This data presents changes in the actual hours spent on work due to the pandemic. The study recognized an increase of over 50% in actual work hours for all job roles and genders, except for the Trans/Non-Binary/Fluid/Other.
The charts show changes in staff's clarity in what they were expected in their job. The report indicated that while all genders and other staff's clarity of work expectation stayed the same, about 50% of Faculty staff felt less clarity in their job expectation.
The data presents differences in personal daily productivity. The charts suggest that Faculty staff felt less productive with the new working arrangement, while other staff experienced an upsurge in their personal productivity.
The data exhibited changes in staff's quality of work. The report pointed out that around 50% of the staff in all genders experienced an improvement in their work quality. However, approximately half of Faculty staff's work quality were reported unchanged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
How faculty and staff job satisfaction, stress, and work-life balance have changed over the transition to remote work.
This section examines the personal experiences of York University employees that are related to their well-being during the Covid-19 working arrangement. The results indicate an overall decrease in job satisfaction and a considerable increase in stress. Additionally, large proportions of employees reported an increase in work interference with personal life, while many staff experienced no change in personal life interference with work. The pathway of relationships is typically considered to flow from work interference with personal life to stress, and from stress to job satisfaction outcomes.
*Other genders include Non-Binary/Trans/Fluid/Other
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty continued to experience increasing dissatisfaction, which can be related to the work difficulties they encountered mentioned in Section 3. In contrast, other staff and all genders overall reported higher levels of no change or increases in job satisfaction in Wave 2, suggesting that working arrangements for York University staff have generally improved over time.
Data shows that there is an increase in stress for Faculty, men and women. A smaller proportion other staff reported a decline in stress experienced. While a decrease of stress for other staff can be the result of more certainty about the future of the pandemic, Faculty data suggests that remote-teaching technologies can still be frustrating for Faculty.
While Faculty continued to experience an increasing overlap from work onto their personal time, majority of staff across all job roles and genders felt no change in how much personal life interferes with work.
Analysis of the shift in expectations and key workspace/environmental factors for faculty and staff during and post-pandemic.
Summary
This section elaborates on the expectations from York University employees, their perception about the workspace and environment arrangement in response to Covid-19 pandemic. The data indicates that a large proportion of staff, except for Faculty, satisfied with the support and workload provided to them. However, the majority of employees disagreed that they were completely off work in non-work hours.
*Other genders includes Non-Binary/Trans/Fluid/Other
This graph shows staff's opinions on the support that York University provided during the new work arrangement in COVID-19 pandemic. The data suggests that the provided support were adequate for the majority of staff. However, there were a large proportion of faculty staff dissatisfied with the support, which might be related to their frustration to new technology required for online teaching.
This chart shows staff's perception of their workload as a result of the new work arrangement. Overall, the majority of York University employees agreed that their workload is managable.
This graph suggests that a larger proportion of staff thought their workload was fair, while most Faculty staff disagreed with that opinion.
Generally, the majority of staff across all job roles and genders disagreed that they did not think about work at all in non-work hours. This might result from the uncertainty of how work arrangement could be adjusted in the constantly changing Covid-19 situation.
