Topic: Science Workplace
Here's a link to a recent survey of postdoctoral fellows done by the Sigma Xi Society.
The survey's authors claim that institutions that have a "structured postdoc program" produced happier postdocs.
Postdocs were poorly paid (median salary $38000/yr), likely to be foreign (54%) on temporary visas, lacked childcare (26% had access vs. 30% no childcare) and subsidized housing (14% had access vs. 50% did not). 53% of postdocs were dissatisfied with the amount of time they can devote to their families (40% are satisfied). 44% agreed that their work had impacted (I assume negatively) their decision to have a child.Basically postdocs are highly skilled, highly educated workers that are exploited without much support.
Fortunately despite all this 69% of postdocs were generally satisfied with their postdoctoral experience. Moreover 61% of postdocs would encourage prospective individuals in joining their current lab as a postdoc.
So why is this?
- Academia is a pyramid scheme. There is a huge excess of grad students and postdocs all lured into academia with the promise of professorships. Problem is the jump from postdoc to professorship is steep (about 100 applicants per job). This is because postdocs are cheep. An easy way to solve this? Pay postdocs more.
- There is a "rite of passage" type attitude in academia. Many professors were underpaid unappreciated postdocs and feel that the current crop of postdocs must pass through this as well. This type of self inflicted wound in academia is not helpful.
- Academics generally like their jobs. As a result plenty of people are willing to work for less. Universities and other research institutes exploit this and give postdocs scraps. Postdocs are treated essentially as cheep labour rather than future scientists.Perhaps providing better support (financially and otherwise) would actually improve postdoc productivity and generate better principal investigators.
In summary postdocs are better off now than they were before ... but we have a long way to go before postdocs get what they deserve.
Posted by madscientist39
at 7:10 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 3 May 2005 5:14 PM EDT
