Why Flexible Schedules Lead to 10+ Hours Daily for University Teachers (Survey of 437 Faculty)

Research Design and Variables

The study sampled 437 university teachers from 10 institutions, collecting 358 valid questionnaires (effective response rate 82%). The questionnaire combined related items into six time‑use categories: teaching, management & service, social‑service, training, normal work, vacation work, statutory‑holiday work, and night work. All time measures were converted to “hours per week”.

Current Work‑Time Situation

Average weekly work time is 52.3 hours, exceeding the Chinese Labor Law limit of 44 hours by 18.8%. During summer and winter vacations, teachers still work an average of 32.9 hours per week, and on statutory holidays they work about 4.4 hours per day. Annually this amounts to 2,483 hours, 195 hours more than the legal benchmark.

Night work accounts for roughly 11 hours per week (22% of total work time). Work‑time distribution is dominated by teaching, research, and management/service activities. Commuting consumes an average of 1.95 hours per day.

Factors Influencing Work Hours

Multiple linear regression was used to assess the impact of personal and institutional variables on four dependent work‑time measures (normal, vacation, statutory‑holiday, night). The method controls for other variables, providing a more reliable estimate of each factor’s effect.

Teaching‑Period Work Hours : Rank has the strongest positive effect—higher academic rank correlates with longer teaching‑period work hours, confirming the stereotype that professors work the most. Female teachers, non‑administrative staff, and B‑type personality teachers work fewer hours.

Vacation Work Hours : Rank again shows the largest positive effect. Being a master’s or doctoral supervisor, being married, and having children all have negative effects, likely because supervisors have additional mentoring duties and married teachers with children allocate more family time.

Statutory‑Holiday Work Hours : Rank, gender, 211‑university status, and having children are significant. Higher rank and 211 status increase holiday work hours, while female teachers and those with children work fewer hours.

Night Work Hours : Being based in Beijing has the strongest negative effect (i.e., Beijing teachers work longer nights). Gender, having children, and administrative duties also matter: female teachers work longer nights, teachers with children work shorter nights, and administrators work longer nights.

Work Hours and Fatigue

Fatigue was regressed on various work‑time components. Commuting time shows the largest positive impact on fatigue, followed by statutory‑holiday work, night work, administrative tasks, and meeting time. Interaction with students and training time have negative coefficients, indicating that more student communication and training reduce fatigue, possibly through psychological satisfaction and a less stressful environment.

Teachers with night‑work hours above the sample mean have significantly higher fatigue scores (M = 4.16 vs. M = 3.12, p = 0.017), confirming a strong link between extended night work and fatigue.

Recommendations

To mitigate fatigue, the authors suggest reducing work during statutory holidays and nights, “de‑administrativizing” faculty roles, cutting unnecessary meetings, and encouraging flexible “work‑from‑home” arrangements where feasible.