Hundreds of University of Newcastle staff will find out on Tuesday how they will be affected by a proposed schools restructure.
Distressed full time academic staff in some schools were only advised on Monday that their positions would be 'impacted'.
They include several early-career academics who are heavily invested in building a career at the university.
The university said all staff who had been impacted by the institution's college, school and divisional changes had been provided with options ranging from ongoing employment to voluntary redundancy depending on individual circumstances.
However, there are concerns that staff who find themselves in new roles resulting from the changes will face significant workload increases.
"There are some people who will effectively be taking a pay cut," a staff member told the Newcastle Herald.
"There is a massive disconnect between what people experience on the ground and what senior management think is happening."
The university argues that the organisational restructure, which has seen the five existing faculties amalgamated into three colleges, is necessary to achieve long-term financial sustainability.
It estimates the changes will result in savings of more than $30 million annually.
However the National Tertiary Education Union has accused the institution of putting profit before quality teaching and research.
"These changes are all about one thing - larger surpluses at the expense of staff. No matter how you spin it," the union said in a recent statement.
The union was briefed about the impact of the latest schools changes on Monday afternoon.
A recent consultation paper for the professional staff division proposed reducing the 843.9 full time equivalent positions across the five divisions to 809.3 positions.
Staff who spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity said the organisational restructure, which began in November, 2020, had been devastating for workplace morale.
"This is just the latest hit in a long-running saga that is the restructure of the University of Newcastle. People are fatigued, they are sick of it and are just leaving," an academic staff member said.
Divisional and school staff have been invited to make submissions on the proposed changes.
They can also indicate interest in taking a voluntary separation package up to the close of business on April 16.
Wednesday's staff briefings will represent the start of a formal consultation process for the schools division.
"Our priority is ensuring we continue to give our staff all the information on the proposed changes before external stakeholders so that they have a chance to ask questions, understand all the impacts and make any recommendations or submissions to the process, the university's chief people and culture officer Martin Sainsbury said.
