Addressing Non-Promotable Tasks: Practical Steps for Academic Leaders

The UK Women in Economics Network (UK WEN) hosted an insightful online session on the 1^st of November for the Royal Economic Society’s
CHUDE network (Conference for Heads of University Departments of Economics), featuring Professor Lise Vesterlund – co-author of “The No Club”. 

The session addressed a critical challenge in academia: the unequal distribution of non-promotable tasks (NPTs) among academic staff, particularly women and minority groups. Non-promotable tasks, such as administrative responsibilities, committee memberships, and operational duties, are vital for the smooth functioning of departments but are often undervalued in promotion criteria, which predominantly prioritise research outputs. 

This imbalance, Lise explained, places women and minorities at a disadvantage in terms of career progression.

Key Factors Driving the Imbalance:

Lise highlighted two key factors driving the unequal distribution of NPTs:

·    Behavioural Tendencies: Women are more likely to volunteer for, be asked to, and accept more NPTs due to social norms. These norms create expectations that women should take on supportive roles, leading them to step forward more often and feel obligated to accept. As a result, women face disproportionate workloads that limit their time for career-advancing activities. In contrast, men tend to step back, particularly when women are present. Raising awareness of these behavioural patterns is essential to reduce the reliance on women for such tasks.

·      Institutional Pressures: Women are often disproportionately assigned NPTs due to institutional practices that lack clear guidelines for equitable task
allocation. For example, efforts to achieve gender balance in committees often result in women being assigned a larger share of these responsibilities. Informal processes, such as directly asking women or calling for volunteers during meetings, further exacerbate this imbalance, as women are more likely to say “yes”. Lise Vesterlund’s research demonstrates how these practices, combined with social norms, create persistent inequities and disproportionately affect women. Implementing structured systems, such as rotas, can help ensure a fairer distribution of these tasks and reduce reliance on subjective decision-making.

Lise’s research, through experiments and analyses, further highlights how these dynamics disproportionately fall to women, limiting their time for research and other career-advancing activities. Minorities face similar challenges, often experiencing what Lise referred to as a “cultural tax.” This involves being expected to undertake additional responsibilities, such as mentoring or diversity-related work, beyond their core duties. While these tasks are extremely valuable, they further reduce the time available for research and career-advancing activities. 

The Furniture Metaphor

A particularly memorable example shared by Lise was her “furniture metaphor”. She recounted an incident where a piece of furniture was stolen from her university, and no one reported it because it was not explicitly part of their job description. This metaphor highlights a critical issue: in many workplaces, people who take up tasks that others overlook or avoid, are over-represented by women or minority groups. Lise stressed the importance of shared responsibility, where everyone, regardless of role or identity, takes ownership of undervalued duties. 

Practical Steps for Heads of Departments

Professor Vesterlund emphasised that Heads of Departments have a critical role in addressing these inequities. She proposed several actionable strategies:

·    Audit and Transparency: Conduct a departmental audit of assignments to identify disparities and ensure transparency in workload distribution. Document and regularly review who is assigned NPTs to ensure fairness.

·   Rethink Gender Balance in Committees: While gender representation is important, enforcing equal numbers in every committee or task is unnecessary. Women do not comprise half of the academic economics departments, so the focus should be on fair overall distribution, allowing women to prioritise promotable tasks.

·      Establish Clear Policies for Task Allocation: Develop formal guidelines for allocating NPTs. This might include rotating roles or setting limits on the number of such tasks any individual is assigned.

·      Encourage Strategic “No” Responses: Normalise the idea that staff can decline NPTs without fear of repercussions, especially those already carrying heavy workloads. Support women and minorities in prioritising promotable work aligned with their career goals.

·      Develop Shared Responsibility: Use the furniture metaphor as an example to create a departmental culture where everyone feels empowered to take ownership and contribute to undervalued tasks. Shared responsibility prevents any single group from being disproportionately burdened.

·      Adapt to Institutional Context: Tailor task allocation policies to align with the unique needs and organisational framework of your institution. Recognise that solutions are not one-size-fits-all and must consider variations such as teaching versus research focus, as well as differing workloads and career stages among staff. 

Shaping an Inclusive Academic Environment

Lise concluded with a powerful message: leadership must drive the change in how work is allocated and evaluated to ensure fairness. By implementing these strategies, HoDs can ensure the equitable distribution of non-promotable tasks. This empowers all staff to focus on career-enhancing activities, reach their full potential, and foster an environment of shared responsibility. This approach will benefit individual career progression and strengthen the institution as a whole. 

As academic leaders, HoDs have the power to reshape their departments into equitable environments where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. It’s time to ensure that no one is left to “report the missing furniture” alone, but rather that all contribute to the collective well-being and advancement of our academic communities.

You can view a recording of a Book Talk event held with Lise here, hosted by The Women in Social and Public Policy Research Hub at LSE on the same topic.