Just Get on with it
New research (published 29 July 2022) shines a fascinating light on just how stressful a job being a prison governor is. A research team from the University of Lincoln (led by Dr Lauren Smith) conducted a qualitative exploration of the health and wellbeing of prison operational managers and Governor grades on behalf of the Prison Governors Association (PGA). The researchers interviewed 63 PGA members to explore how participants described their health and wellbeing at work, what mechanisms of support were available, and how they felt about their current role.
Findings
The researchers categorised their findings under five key headings explored further below. For those wanting a quick but more in-depth insight into the main findings of the research, I recommend the short video which you can watch here.
The cycle of macho culture
The researchers use the term ‘Macho culture’ to refer to an environment where toughness and stamina are emphasised, and weakness should not be shown. Interviewees saw opening up as a sign of weakness or failure and feared the repercussions if they did share what they were feeling. There is a culture of presenteeism, with staff carrying unmanageable workloads.
Instead of talking about the challenges they face, participants referred to the need to adopt an ‘impenetrable’ persona and cope on their own, even when serious incidents occurred. Participants also felt the weight of expectations, from themselves (either explicitly or subconsciously), from the working environment and from other people, including prisoners, staff, peers, managers, headquarters, and ministers, as well as the public and the media.
The research team found that internal and external expectations fuelled the other, creating a vicious circle that feeds the perceived need for long working hours and the ability to be able to just get on with it no matter what happens.
Responsibility but lack of autonomy
Researchers found a sense among governors that they were expected to take responsibility for the welfare of their staff and prisoners but that they were not given appropriate autonomy to do so. This was bound up with the perception that these staff were neither trusted nor supported to make the decisions needed to do their job. This had led both to a stifling of innovation and maverick decision making which, in turn, has increased stress and fear of negative repercussions.
Accessing support
A key feature of the research was to explore when and how governor grade staff accessed support. Where services like PAM Assist, the Employee Assistance Programme, and Trauma Risk Management had been accessed, interviewees were generally positive about their experiences. However, most felt that all these services were more geared towards their staff than themselves, and some reported significant concerns about confidentiality and the potential repercussions of using such a service, particularly in relation to career progression.
The path to disenchantment
Taken together, the three features summarised above – macho culture, lack of autonomy and lack of support – made interviewees feel disenchanted and disengaged. Staff talked about feeling exhausted, in some cases bullied, traumatised, and, in some cases, unable to go on.
Several spoke about using unhealthy coping strategies to deal with the relentless and intense pressure they face every day. Many also reported being unable to maintain a healthy work-life balance, damaged relationships, and physical and mental health exhaustion. People talked about being too tired to go on, feeling constantly worried, and at risk of burnout.
Looking forwards
Governors expressed two main concerns about the future. First, they felt fearful about how the service would look, whether anything would be learned from their experiences over the pandemic and whether there would be any end to the constant workload pressure. This links closely to the second concern, which was about staff retention and attrition across all grades. One interviewee described the current situation as the ‘the perfect storm’, with
‘Inexperienced staff, poor leaders that are hiding away and a regime that’s opening up’.
Many said they were considering leaving their job, either contemplating early retirement or finding employment outside of the service.
Overall, governors wanted a recognition of their stressful work environment and greater acknowledgement of their experiences, a review of roles and workload, increased appreciation of the different roles in prisons and headquarters and more appropriate and better resourced support services.
Thanks to Workvisible for kind permission to use the images in this post.
