Undoing disparities in faculty workloads: A randomized trial experiment.

Area of Science:

• Academic Medicine
• Organizational Psychology
• Sociology of Work

Background:

• Academic departments often struggle with equitable distribution of work, impacting faculty morale and retention.
• Existing systems for assigning and rewarding academic work may perpetuate inequities.
• Faculty readiness to address workload equity is crucial for sustainable change.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a multi-component intervention aimed at improving equity in work assignment, uptake, and reward within academic departments.
• To increase equitable work practices, enhance supportive departmental conditions, and boost faculty action readiness regarding equity.
• To assess the impact of the intervention on faculty perceptions of fairness and self-advocacy.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled study design was employed over an 18-month period.
• The intervention targeted routine work practices, departmental conditions, and faculty readiness.
• Data were collected through post-intervention surveys comparing participating and control departments.

Main Results:

• Faculty in participating departments reported improved work practices and conditions supporting equity.
• Participating departments showed greater action readiness in addressing workload equity compared to control departments.
• Faculty in intervention departments reported increased self-advocacy and a fairer distribution of teaching and service work.

Conclusions:

• A structured, multi-component intervention can effectively enhance equity in academic departments.
• Improving departmental conditions and faculty readiness are key to achieving equitable workload distribution.
• The study provides evidence for successful strategies to promote fairness and self-advocacy in academic settings.