I finished re-drafting the results for an old project, which is about workplace inclusion. Let’s also reflect on resourcing and workplace health and safety.

A couple of years ago, my colleague and I went through many challenges to do our fieldwork on minority workers. I feel strongly about publishing the stories that were generously shared by staff, and their excellent ideas about how to improve outcomes. For a range of reasons beyond our control, there have been many delays on releasing our results. I perserve to get this work published.

On another project, I raised the issue of resourcing. I was presented with four options:

1. Delay the project until next year
2. Keep working until other staff in our team are made available (with no guarantee this will eventuate)
3. Keep working until we hire a new staff member (at least two months’ wait)
4. Keep working and ask our partner organisation to put more time in

The latter three choices represent me doing the bulk of the work, and upskilling other people. This creates more work for me. The project is due to be completed before other staff can be onboarded. My preference was option one.

The negotiation continues.

Workplace health and safety is not just about wearing hard hats at construction sites, putting up hazard signs, or asking people to wear a mask. It is also about balancing resources, managing workload, and effectively responding to resourcing concerns.