Psychosocial Hazard Snapshot: Low Job Control
Schools are complicated places and we’ve moved away from the latitude I remember in the late 90s (nostalgia 😊) to a much more structured approach in classrooms and other school environments. This does not have to be an issue … however if staff have limited say in the decisions about their workload, how the work is done, and the changes to their work, and this is a frequent occurrence, that is consistent in work management, and persists over time, this low control may represent an identified hazard.
In the interests of time in schools, we can be guilty of making decisions at leadership levels about school-wide and team-wide plans (also often for good reasons), and introducing them to staff in staff meetings as a fait accompli that need to be done.
Consulting with staff beforehand, and sharing ideas with everyone about how to reprioritise other work, are two strategies we can strengthen as a sector to improve job control outcomes for staff.
The TL:DR summary: ensuring staff are consulted about changes to their work and have a say in how work is done are foundational job control principles.
References:
SafeWork NSW’s Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work. https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/983353/Code-of-Practice_Managing-psychosocial-hazards.pdf
