Most establish regular office hours for student consultations, usually 3 to 6 hours per week. Otherwise, faculty are free to decide when and where they will work, and how much time to devote to course preparation, grading, study, research, graduate student supervision, and other activities. Initial adjustment to these responsibilities can be challenging as new faculty adapt to switching roles from student to teacher. This adjustment may be even more difficult should class sizes grow in response to faculty and budget cutbacks, increasing an instructor's workload. To ease the transition from student to teacher, some institutions offer career development programs.
Some faculty members work staggered hours and teach night and weekend classes.
Most colleges and universities require faculty to work 9 months of the year, which allows them the time to teach additional courses, do research, travel, or pursue nonacademic interests during the summer and school holidays. Colleges and universities usually have funds to support faculty research or other professional development needs, including travel to conferences and research sites. Faculty may experience a conflict between their responsibilities to teach students and the pressure to do research and to publish their findings. This may be a particular problem for young faculty seeking advancement in 4-year research universities. However, increasing emphasis on undergraduate teaching performance in tenure decisions may alleviate some of this pressure.