Creating Sustainable Careers in Student Affairs

Book excerpt: This book argues that the current structure of student affairs work is not sustainable, as it depends on the notion that employees are available to work non-stop without any outside responsibilities, that is, the Ideal Worker Norm. The field places inordinate burdens on staff to respond to the needs of students, often at the expense of their own families and well-being. Student affairs professionals can meet the needs of their students without being overworked. The problem, however, is that ideal worker norms pervade higher education and student affairs work, thus providing little incentive for institutions to change. The authors in this book use ideal worker norms in conjunction with other theories to interrogate the impact on student affairs staff across functional areas, institutional types, career stage, and identity groups. The book is divided into three sections; chapters in the first section of the book examine various facets of the structure of work in student affairs, including the impact of institutional type and different functional areas on employees’ work-lives. Chapters in the second section examine the personal toll that working in student affairs can take, including emotional labor’s impact on well-being. The final section of the book narrows the focus to explore how different identity groups, including mothers, fathers, and people of color, navigate work/life issues. Challenging ideal worker norms, all chapters offer implications for practice for both individuals and institutions.