New on the job in a time of COVID

[wareagle]

I started a new job at a different institution in June.  My interviews were all via Zoom, and I did not step foot on my new campus until after I was hired.

Of course, trying to meet people, form working relations, get a sense of campus culture, etc., have all been major challenges.  We are partly online, partly Hyflex, and slightly F2F this semester, so our new students are also having an interesting experience as well.

Lunch dates, coffee with colleagues, beers after work - not happening.  I am in a state where COVID cases are rising alarmingly, so those of us with some common sense are choosing to stay home.

Are you new to your institution this year?  What challenges are you facing?  How are you coping?

[Ruralguy]

I am not new, I am old, but from that side, perhaps some viable advice:

Do you know who some of the other new people are?

Perhaps you can arrange some sort of Zoom mixer or extremely distanced and masked mixer for new folks? 

Likewise, talk to your chair. Perhaps he/she has a view on how to do this at the dept. level. Make it clear you aren't complaining about the dept., but want to know your colleagues better.

[traductio]

We hired someone who started this fall in similar circumstances. I can't speak for her other than to say that one thing she did that seemed wise was to Zoom with people to talk about how to organize her classes. It was also a way, I think, of talking about institutional culture and expectations, as well as get to know other faculty members at least a little bit.

[Bonnie]

Also an old timer. We have three new faculty this year (2 TT, 1 NTT). I have actually been horrible about reaching out but I know each has been invited in to some teams of folks with similar teaching areas and are connecting that way. Our department does an occasional Zoom happy hour, but those are awkward asf. I believe our chair is continuing their monthly group meetings with first years that started a few years ago. In past years I've heard only negatives about those meetings. I wonder if they are more beneficial now than past years. Or more aggravating. Our university teaching center and research office also host zoom gatherings for first year faculty a couple times a semester.

What are your suggestions for how us old timers can best support people starting during These Times?

[wareagle]

That is a tough question.  Pre-COVID, newcomers could attend on-campus live events like brown-bag seminars on teaching, student performances, faculty lectures, etc.  People could go out for coffee, lunch, or drinks.  People could attend worship services in person and meet community folk over coffee hours and fellowship.  None of those opportunities are out there, or not to the same degree they were pre-COVID.  (A lot of this depends on where you reside.)

I've been incredibly grateful to the handful of people who have simply made a point of stopping by to greet me and chat.  My office is large enough that we can distance, and mask-wearing is mandatory on my campus.  But the vast majority of people I kinda know on campus I've met via Zoom.  I have a tough time with names and faces anyway, and it is even harder on Zoom to put people into context so I can try to remember who they are. 

There are very few new folks this fall, as a hiring freeze was imposed in March and only a handful of positions were approved.  There is one other new administrator at my rank, and we attend a lot of the same Zoom meetings.  Hu's position is closely related to mine, so we have worked together on several issues and we're making a good team. 

It just takes more time, and a lot more effort.  But I think it is manageable.  I'm just hoping to find a couple of kindred spirits who may have a couple of strategies I haven't thought of yet.

[born_a_prof]

I am in somewhat similar position, though I started fall 19.
It sucks. People are overwhelmed with zoom meetings. No one wants to start yet another collaboration via zoom, informal chats are impossible with those I didn't meet in person earlier.

[AvidReader]

I'm in a new job this year. I am one of at least 15 new hires in my department (we teach freshman writing, and the university enrollments are 50% higher than they were last year. Even with the new hires, some people are still teaching overloads).

This is the loneliest year I've ever had as a teacher, including my years as a beltway bandit or whatever the old Fora used to call it. We are almost all teaching on campus, though many of us on opposing schedules so that we are rarely in the halls or buildings at the same time. If office doors are open, we are supposed to have masks on, so we all open the doors for office hours and keep them closed, even when we are there, the rest of the time (then when a student comes for office hours, I wear a mask, but the student is breathing air I've exhaled for several preceding hours, which almost certainly would be unwise if I actually had COVID). The staff room has a fridge and microwave. I use the fridge daily, but almost nobody else does (sometimes my lunch is the only item in the fridge). Sometimes other people might use the microwave because occasionally the room has a different (food) odor. In a department of 50+, I've met six people.

I would like to (and could) find the other new hires and have a Zoom get-together, but the other half of the problem is that we are all constantly behind and exhausted. I teach five sections of freshman composition. One has more than 40 students. They are all required to write 6 essays over the semester; the grading is neverending. So far this semester, I've put in at least four 70+ hour weeks (one hit 80), and that's without even adding in my own research time. So how can I ask other new, overwhelmed colleagues to sit down with a nice beverage and stare at me on a screen and take more time away from their families?

One thing that also makes this hard is that email feels more formal. I would typically stop to exchange pleasantries in the hall if I passed someone else, but I don't email someone with chitchat. Every now and then a senior colleague sends out a cheery email about something non-academic (usually wrapped food on the table in the faculty lounge) and I try to hit reply and say something cheery back, but that is basically the extent of my social interaction. So--Bonnie and other old-timers--if you are in person, any email that breaks the monotony of student complaints is great, especially if it offers food. I don't know what to suggest for people that are fully online.

I don't think I answered the question, and I suspect this should have gone on the Venting thread instead. Sorry.

AR.

[uni_cyclist]

My situation is the same as the OP's, with the exception that my interview was in person, as it was just before the pandemic.

I have had a number of Zooms with colleagues who wanted to welcome me to the school. I believe they've had nice intentions, but most of the time these Zooms have seemed to turn into what feels like an interview rather than a casual chat over coffee, perhaps because we're all so accustomed to using Zoom for more formal interactions now.

I'm Zoomed out. There was a series of weekly orientation Zooms for new faculty that, frankly, I stopped attending after a month or so. Each had a guest speaker from some office on campus who would read a presentation to us. Since the presentation was made available outside of the Zoom, I didn't see the point of attending anymore. I wasn't meeting any of the other new faculty since there was no room for interaction.

Overall, I'm feeling rather disengaged. Friends and family ask how I'm enjoying the new location and school, but it's not safe to explore the location, except maybe from my car, and I have only been to campus once -- to pick up my office key.

OP, you asked for strategies and I think this turned into more of a vent. I can say that the times when I've felt more connected have been mostly through social media. My new town has an active, unofficial page where people post about everything from politics to recipes to Halloween decorations.

[wareagle]

I'm bumping this up after several more months on the new job.

It has been a nightmare, and I am having a lot of difficulty trying to separate issues that are probably COVID-caused, and those that are simply part of campus culture.  I want to give this the benefit of the doubt.

I've been thrown under the bus several times already, and am likely standing on the edge of the glass cliff in terms of this program I'm supposed to be getting off the ground.  There's no funding, and the current personnel are so overworked and stressed out, at least one is quitting and another wants to cut back.  I likely would not be allowed to replace the one, and would lose the portion of the job that the second decides to cede.  Grants provide programming to select (small) groups of students, but there is very little available for the average Stu, and I can't increase services or start any new initiatives.

The campus was in financial trouble before COVID, and although fall enrollments will probably be close to historic averages, there won't be growth, and no one's budget is going to increase.  At best, we may avoid more cuts.

I could retire this summer, and it is growing ever more attractive.  Still, I wonder if I have given this a fair shake.  Some of the problems may ease as COVID wanes, but the cultural and financial issues aren't going anywhere. 

Not sure if this is a vent, a plea for advice, or simply musings on the situation.

[traductio]

I have no advice, but I wanted to express my sympathy! That sounds awful.

[AJ_Katz]

First I would like to say that this is one of the most depressing threads in the fora.  I cannot imagine having been hired and starting a new job just prior to this pandemic.  My hats off to those of you who are going through this and trudging along.

the current personnel are so overworked and stressed out, at least one is quitting and another wants to cut back.  I likely would not be allowed to replace the one, and would lose the portion of the job that the second decides to cede. 

One thought, wareagle, is to have a meeting with your staff and see if you can do a "responsibilities exchange".  Essentially, staff bring to the table a list of things they're responsible for, have them talk about what they enjoy doing, what's working, and what task or responsibility they'd love to trade with someone else.  It can be a way to get a better match of people to the tasks and therefore breathe some fresh air into each of their jobs.  Not sure if this approach would work in your case, so just throwing it out there as something to consider.

[Harlow2]

Entering a new position—in what is at best a place that is on "pause"—s extremely difficult. I took over a major program in an unstressful time, but it was a mess and higher-ups didn't want to supply needed funding and hiring to make it work. This even though it was a program the college relied on as a draw for new students. 2 admins who knew nothing about the program threw me under the bus, once in front of parents.

I like A J Katz's suggestions, and  you are likely doing this already but submitting copious records won the day, though it took a couple of years.

[wareagle]

First I would like to say that this is one of the most depressing threads in the fora.  I cannot imagine having been hired and starting a new job just prior to this pandemic.  My hats off to those of you who are going through this and trudging along.

the current personnel are so overworked and stressed out, at least one is quitting and another wants to cut back.  I likely would not be allowed to replace the one, and would lose the portion of the job that the second decides to cede. 

One thought, wareagle, is to have a meeting with your staff and see if you can do a "responsibilities exchange".  Essentially, staff bring to the table a list of things they're responsible for, have them talk about what they enjoy doing, what's working, and what task or responsibility they'd love to trade with someone else.  It can be a way to get a better match of people to the tasks and therefore breathe some fresh air into each of their jobs.  Not sure if this approach would work in your case, so just throwing it out there as something to consider.

Thanks for great ideas!  Over the past eight to ten years, the program has shed six full-time and one part-time staffer.  There are now three doing the work of almost ten.  Yet somehow the remaining staff have succumbed to the "do more with less" mandate instead of pointing out that we do less with less.  Hence exhaustion and overwork.  (They are also all women, but I won't comment further on that situation.  People will draw their own conclusions.)

I like the idea of listing out the things people feel they're responsible for, and cutting that down to a manageable level.  I'd like them to identify what they feel essential services are, and nix everything else.  My boss does not know anything about my areas of expertise (ostensibly, that's why s/he hired me), and has not been here long either - only a year longer than myself.  Still, I am unable to reason with hu on the impossibilities of the situation, even with the research and data on my side. 

I'm sorry this is a depressing thread; I did not intend that when I started it.  Really, I was hoping to find others in a similar situation for exchange of ideas and support.

[ciao_yall]

I'm bumping this up after several more months on the new job.

It has been a nightmare, and I am having a lot of difficulty trying to separate issues that are probably COVID-caused, and those that are simply part of campus culture.  I want to give this the benefit of the doubt.

I've been thrown under the bus several times already, and am likely standing on the edge of the glass cliff in terms of this program I'm supposed to be getting off the ground.  There's no funding, and the current personnel are so overworked and stressed out, at least one is quitting and another wants to cut back.  I likely would not be allowed to replace the one, and would lose the portion of the job that the second decides to cede.  Grants provide programming to select (small) groups of students, but there is very little available for the average Stu, and I can't increase services or start any new initiatives.

The campus was in financial trouble before COVID, and although fall enrollments will probably be close to historic averages, there won't be growth, and no one's budget is going to increase.  At best, we may avoid more cuts.

I could retire this summer, and it is growing ever more attractive.  Still, I wonder if I have given this a fair shake.  Some of the problems may ease as COVID wanes, but the cultural and financial issues aren't going anywhere. 

Not sure if this is a vent, a plea for advice, or simply musings on the situation.

This.

I picked up a job that was a mess. Cleaned it up, turned it around, then got reorged and pushed out. Competence is underrated at some institutions.

[Cheerful]

I could retire this summer, and it is growing ever more attractive.

This sentence seems most important.  If retirement is a viable option, you are in a MUCH better position than most for whom walking away, any day, isn't realistic.  Should take a lot of stress off as you move forward and contemplate next steps.  Why not take things day by day?