Research staff are not self-employed sole traders

For National Postdoc Appreciation Week (16-20 September), many staff received an email from the Careers Service including a message about “The search for professional security as a researcher”. This message correctly identifies the precarity of short, fixed-term contracts as a major concern among researchers. However, it then goes on to suggest that research staff should think of themselves as effectively “self-employed sole traders”, that they are “looking for security in the wrong places” by aspiring to obtain a permanent contract, and advises them to spend (more) time developing their “business”. This message is damaging because it reinforces harmful and inaccurate narratives about the status of research staff.

Why it is inaccurate

Research staff are not self-employed sole traders. If they were, their lack of security would come with control over how they run their “business” along with exposure to both the gains and losses of their work. Instead, they are paid on a salary scale over which they have little say, and work within an institution in which they have little control, as they are largely excluded from Congregation and other decision making bodies. (A helpful summary of employee status is contained in the recent employment tribunal decision 3313598/2022 & 3313599/2022.)

As of July 2023, Research Staff make up 30.8% of University of Oxford’s total staff, making them the largest staff group. Researchers win and work on the grants and fellowships whose overheads fund our departments. Researchers publish the papers that are submitted to the REF which determines the allocation of public funds for research. For example, in 2022-23, The University of Oxford received the largest share of Quality-related Research (QR) funding at just over £164 million. The university’s reputation as the no. 1 research university in the world is highly dependent on the labour of research staff. This reputation allows the university to charge exorbitant tuition fees (for example £41,250 per year for an overseas student in a Masters in Advanced Computer Science course) to students who are then often supervised in part by research staff.

Why it is harmful

To suggest that research staff are “self-employed sole traders” minimizes the university’s dependence on research labour and its responsibilities as an employer. Seeing themselves this way makes researchers more easily exploitable. They are less likely to complain when they are mistreated and less likely to see themselves as part of a group of workers with common interests (again, the largest staff group in the university). Rather than a way of “addressing the realities of today”, this narrative helps to ensure that the precarity of academic research will continue unabated. The irony is that the gaslighting in this patronizing message, ostensibly sent under the heading of National Postdoc Appreciation Week, only adds to the stress of researchers, who already feel isolated enough.

What to do instead

In 2023, UCU ranked UK universities on the level of support provided to research staff to tackle insecure employment. The University of Oxford scored only 26.5 out of 100 (The University of Leeds, Ulster University, and The University of Aberdeen all scored over 60). The report made the following recommendations for employers:

• Commit to working with UCU towards a more sustainable model for the employment of research staff with a view to breaking the link between the individual job and a specific piece of grant funding. We applaud the efforts being made at Bath university to do just this.
• Commit to reducing the use of fixed-term contracts and/or open-ended contracts with an identified ‘at risk’ date by moving research staff to genuine open-ended contracts, and agreeing a target with the local UCU branch for such a reduction over an agreed period. (The fact that the percentage of research-only staff on a fixed-term contract in research-intensive universities ranges from 2% (UCL) to 99% (LSHTM) shows that the widespread use of such contracts is a choice, not a necessity.)
• Work with UCU to agree on processes and put systems in place that support the continuity of employment and minimise the risk of redundancy at the end of a funded research project, e.g., proactive redeployment, active bridge funding, extended notice periods, and enhanced redundancy pay.

Some parts of the university are beginning to address the most egregious cases of casualised research work. For example, the Medical Sciences Division are offering open-ended (externally funded) contracts to research staff who have been on successive fixed-term contracts for 10+ years.

If you are a researcher, check out UCU’s Researchers’ Survival Guide, which provides practical advice on a wide range of issues relating to your career. If you want to have a collective say over the future of academic research, join UCU. Find out about our next open meeting on our events page.

---

The original message from the University of Oxford Careers Service is copied below.

A recurring theme among the researchers we see is a desire for security and stability. This is unsurprising since most of you are on short, fixed-term contracts. Undoubtedly, precarity is a major problem with no obvious short-term solutions (share your thoughts on this topic in this Research England survey), so while we advocate for change tomorrow, we still need to address the realities of today.

For today, it strikes me that we might be looking for security in the wrong places. Security does not come from open ended, nor permanent contracts, it comes from being confident that you are able to get the next, better job. A self-employed sole trader takes time to work in the business using technical skill, and on the business, generating sales, getting new customers etc. As a researcher you are effectively a sole trader, your business is you and you have one customer, the University. You all work hard in your business, doing your research. How many of you put much effort into working on your business? This is your professional development and how you advance towards your career goals. Here at the Careers Service, we can show you how to market yourself and become confident in your value and ability to secure the next, best job. For now, that is where security comes from.
 

Oxford Careers Adviser for Research Staff