Sustainability in higher education comes in many forms, and advocates have to consider several factors when making a decision about sustainability in their schools. But how does one balance this under the pressure of changing student body needs? Sustainability isn’t only about changing water flow or adding recycling bins. It’s about taking care of the university or college as if it's an ecosystem.
There are ways that private institutions can protect themselves as a business, but any educator can tell you that teaching, even at the college level, is more complicated than that. It would be a mistake to treat your professors or board members like numbers. It takes genuine effort to make a workplace sustainable, both intra-personally and environmentally.
Caring for Your Educators
Higher education loves tradition. Sometimes tradition can prevent progress. This might make larger changes more difficult, no matter how helpful it will be. If it changes something big, there could be setbacks. But, as anyone involved with sustainability knows, it’s not always about massive changes. Well-cared for employees are more open than those who do not trust their institution.
Regardless of what you do for a living, you worry about your health. Universities should take care of their people like they take care of their campus. Insurance plans have differences in coverage, each with its own set of features. Educators should be as well protected as the planet we live on. Even the most basic coverage can make a big difference in morale.
Health Insurance
On a basic level, higher education institutions need to provide some health insurance. For all that they do for students, your staff and professors deserve some coverage of ordinary medical costs such as yearly checkups, hospital visits, and prescription drugs. It’s up to individual institutions to cover further facets of health care, and more coverage is always better, but having a basic plan will increase the likelihood of happy workers.
Liability Insurance
Every member of the university “ecosystem” has their own set of responsibilities. Professors teach, maintenance keeps the lights on, and business goes on as usual. Accidents don’t care about how responsible everyone is, so it’s best to protect employees when they happen.
Liability insurance can cover anything that causes injury or accidental property damage. Suppose one of your maintenance team members falls off of a ladder. Here the institution would want liability coverage, and the team member would want healthcare coverage. If your personnel know that they have support, they’ll trust you more.
Beyond the Policy
Outside of all the paperwork, insurance protects people. These same people are the ones in the classrooms and offices, ensuring the future education of many generations to come. They may do their jobs because they love the work, but staff will want to invest more than their billable hours into their universities if they're trustworthy. By providing a safety net of essential protection, employees at all levels will want to invest in their institutions' future.