That is a question that is currently haunts me as I watch my partner struggle in a situation where they are doing an exceptional job at their position, but the institution is not providing the proper support to make their life a little less stressful.

I see this happening at so many SLACs and junior colleges, employees are asked to do more with less, specifically less staff, and significantly less support. It doesn’t matter where a person sits on the campus hierarchy, whether you are faculty or staff, that horrible feeling is there: you’re carrying the weight of a job that should not be a one-person effort. This is effectively killing our morale, productivity, and mental health. It’s a good thing this isn’t an attack somebody could pull in a Pokemon game. The Elite Four wouldn’t stand a chance, but at least “Gary” would get his comeuppance.

Lack of proper support often means juggling responsibilities that fall outside your job description. SLAC professors love to say that we wear many hats. Honestly, who looks good wearing more than one hat? You look silly. Receiving support isn’t just about extra hands. It’s about having the resources and backup needed to thrive. Without genuine leadership who cares about you, everything feels like an insurmountable obstacle.

I find it humorous when I hear administration talking about burnout and retention. Sometimes I do wonder if they don’t see the connection between the two. I have watched a good number of faculty members suffer from bouts of exhaustion and anxiety. As if professors weren’t weird enough, now they are borderline paranoid about their efforts when they shouldn’t have to because they feel their struggle is invisible to others, especially so-called leadership. One of my best friends in academia did their level best to keep an entire program running smoothly virtually by themselves. Their exhaustion was so severe that it led to several stress fractures in their feet. Despite what we tried to tell administration, the problems were overlooked as everything appeared fine.

Remus College learned the hard way the value in providing support. When my friend left for greener pastures, two things happened. First, the program collapsed because the replacements (yes, plural they hired two people do the job) couldn’t handle the workload. In the four years since my friend’s departure, the program shrunk by 80%, losing over 100 majors in the process. Second, my friend lost over 250 lbs. because they no longer had so much stress to deal with.

The experience serves as a testament to the crucial need support can meet. People leave not because they didn’t like the job (although my friend hated a lot of things about it by the end), but because they couldn’t keep doing it alone. That’s a failure of leadership and organizational planning. If leadership wasn’t deaf when employees speak up about needing help, they would not run into these problems as much. Because Remus didn’t foster a supportive environment they guaranteed long-term damage that will takes years to recover from.