In June, universities across Ontario unveiled their new “disconnecting from work” policies in accordance with provincial legislation aimed at fostering healthier work environments. But faculty and administration alike are saying that on their own, these policies do nothing to upend the more deeply rooted issues that drive high workloads and burnout.

“When you hire a faculty member, you’re hiring an uber-keener that wants to work their entire life, right? And that’s the way administration overworks us, by filtering us out to the ones that are going to be thinking about their working life 70 hours a week,” said Shoshanah Jacobs, an associate professor in the department of integrative biology at the University of Guelph. For Dr. Jacobs, overworking is a value that’s not only sought after, but rewarded in academic career paths. So addressing the issue of work-life balance requires a much more thorough examination of the deeply ingrained cultures within universities, if administrators truly wish to shift the scales.

Put forward by Ontario’s Conservative government in 2021, Bill 27, called the “Working for Workers Act,” requires employers of 25 individuals or more to have a written policy around disconnecting from work. The bill primarily takes aim at communications like emails, messages, and video or telephone calls – all aspects of work that have increased since COVID-19 and lockdowns first came into effect more than two years ago.

Sheila Embleton, a distinguished research professor of linguistics at York University and chief steward for the York University Faculty Association, has seen the encroachment of technology and the greater reliance on communication tools since she first started at York in 1980. From her perspective, the impulse to respond to emails outside of work hours is a “coping mechanism” for individuals struggling to keep up with their workloads during their normal hours, and a symptom of a much greater issue.

Already, Dr. Embleton is seeing how her colleagues are adjusting to the new policy in a way that suggests not much has really changed. “You wouldn’t believe how much mail comes in within the span of five minutes on a Monday morning at 8 a.m. It’s just wild. You can tell that they must have done it late at night, the night before, or have been working on the weekend,” she said.

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