It’s Not Just About the Money

Hardly a day goes by without news of layoffs or pay cuts. (In fact, about the only thing not being cut these days is workloads.) But wages and jobs aren’t the only casualties of the recession. Those who still have jobs are curtailing time normally spent with friends and family, and postponing research and travel opportunities, out of fear of ending up unemployed themselves, a recent article by David Shieh in The Chronicle notes. And that’s hurting workers’ morale and leaving them stressed out.

Shieh talked with Michael K. McBeath, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, who likes to burn off steam in the middle of the day by playing basketball with his colleagues. For years, he and roughly two dozen faculty and staff members hit the gym for a game around noon, three days a week.

Now their roster has been chopped in half — by anxiety, Shieh writes:

As budget cuts have prompted the university to announce that it will shutter more than 40 academic programs, cut 200 faculty-associate positions, and force both faculty and staff members to take unpaid furloughs, far fewer people show up at the gym these days.

Mr. McBeath said many are just too worried about job security to risk an hour of lost work or a supervisor’s raised eyebrow over a game of basketball.

“People just don’t want to take any chances,” he said.

James B. Jeffries can tell you about anxiety. He told The Chronicle that he has no other option but to work extra hours at several part-time jobs this summer. Jeffries, a visiting assistant professor of history in his third year at Clemson University learned in January that though he would be renewed for another year, it would probably be his last. Thanks to a universitywide furlough, he’ll take home less money this year. And thanks to budget cuts and travel restrictions, he’ll now be picking up his own tab for travel to national conferences, which are a must now that he’s back on the job market.

So, how has the economic crisis affected your plans and quality of life?