Postdoc Labor Love.

I look back fondly on my years as a postdoctoral fellow (1993–1995) as a period of heightened intellectual growth, clarity and optimism. After 5 years as a PhD student, I was finally set free to explore ideas more of my own creation, to start from scratch a new research project but this time with greater wisdom, experience and vision than was possible as a dazed and confused first-year graduate student. It was a field test of the mind of a newly minted PhD, and a chance to stretch that mind in new directions. I didn’t choose a postdoctoral position for any reason other than to learn a different and, to me, exciting area of science. Back then, many chemists found career-propelling jobs right out of graduate school—in industry, policy or consulting, and sometimes even in academia. Unlike those more-focused peers, I was not ready to commit to a permanent job. The postdoctoral position offered me a continuing education of sorts, perfect for those of us still trying to find our path and develop additional skills for a future not yet written. Others chose postdoctoral positions to hone a new craft tailored for a specific career pursuit. But no matter the motivation, the postdoc seemed optional, and clearly oriented toward training. Likewise, we were paid a fraction of the salaries our peers with real jobs enjoyed, and our term, at least for chemists, was never meant to exceed 2 years. Since that time, things have changed for postdoctoral fellows, especially in the biomedical sciences. It started with the doubling of the NIH budget between 1998 and 2003. Those were heady times with generous paylines and audacious large-scale research initiatives To capture the largesse, academic departments expanded with new faculty hires and concomitant increases in the numbers of students and postdocs. Then came the perfect storm. The economy first shifted, then tanked, and the expanded biomedical research enterprise became unsustainable as the NIH budget contracted year after year (i.e., stayed flat despite inflation). Universities and biopharma companies mandated hiring freezes, VCs stopped investing in risky startups, and suddenly the postdoctoral position seemed like a holding tank that was backing up and overflowing. Hundreds of postdocs were applying for each single job. Between 2008 and 2011, the typical postdoctoral term for chemists crept from the old-school 1–2 year period to more like 3–4 years. In my own lab, a few hit the 5-year mark at which point many universities say the postdoc title must expire. Meanwhile, 7-year postdocs for biologists became more commonplace and terms like “second postdoc” started to sound reasonable. Multiyear job searches, once embarrassing, became the norm. All the while, postdoctoral stipends did not escalate much—in 2006 NIH postdoc fellowships started at $36,996, and today, a decade later, that number is $43,692, just shy of an inflation-only adjustment. What emerged from this era was a so-called “postdoc crisis”. Postdocs earning low salaries in positions never meant to be permanent were now trapped, many for almost a decade, with no obvious exit strategy. Their swollen numbers could not be accommodated in a market of shrinking employment opportunities. This, in turn, created a vicious cycle wherein postdocs felt pressure to publish more and more papers in the highest profile journals before taking their shot in the hypercompetitive job market, leading to longer and longer postdoctoral stays. For some, finding an attractive job seemed more like a war of attrition. With few exceptions (e.g., engineering fields), postdoc experience is no longer considered optional for most PhD level jobs. And not just in academia; recruiters tell our students that they need a postdoc to compete for the best pharma or chemical industry positions as well. Now, the Department of Labor (DOL) has announced an update to the Fair Labor Standards Act that requires, starting Dec 1, 2016, overtime pay for full-time salaried workers earning less than $47,476 per year, a considerable increase from the former figure of $23,660 set in 2004. Postdoctoral researchers are included in the new policy, which can be interpreted as tacit acknowledgment of their highly skilled work and protracted contracts. So employers either must account for postdocs’ work hours with overtime pay, or, as preferred by most institutions, they must increase postdoc salaries to meet the new minimum earnings. NIH Director Francis Collins supports the new threshold and plans to raise the NIH postdoctoral stipend, currently ranging from $43,692 to $47,268, to match or exceed it. HHMI plans to increase their entry-level postdoc salary to $50,000, the same number that Stanford University arrived at several months ago This is all good news for current postdocs whose stagnant salaries will get a bump as of this December. But from where will the increased funds come? For the moment, the lion’s share must come from PIs’ fixed research budgets. This can only mean one thing—a cut somewhere else. It is widely known that national investment in science has not increased significantly in recent years. Tellingly, NIH’s modular budget limit for an individual investigator R01 grant was $250,000 in the mid-1990s and so remains today. Any increase in the cost of research means a reduced workforce and output per dollar. Accordingly, some predict the outcome of the new DOL policy will be a decrease in the postdoctoral workforce, perhaps not a bad thing if that pipeline can be rebalanced to match employment demands. Lab sizes will shrink, which aligns with recommendations by Alberts et al. in their defining Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA article “Rescuing US biomedical research from its systemic flaws”. Nudging postdoc salaries closer to those of permanent scientific staff may be just the pressure needed to burst an unsustainable bubble. The pending salary increase will incentivize PIs to push postdocs out the door toward permanent employment. While hailing the benefits of DOL’s move, one should also acknowledge problems that could arise down the road. PIs are understandably concerned about accommodating the salary increase on such short notice. Many are faced with tough decisions about honoring postdoc employment contracts that will now cost several thousands more dollars. And graduate students worry that, with fewer postdoc positions available, they may be forced onto the job market without one. The specter of competing on unequal footing with those who can secure a coveted postdoc position is unsettling to say the least. Also, when budgets get constrained, unanticipated consequences often rear their ugly heads. PIs are now even more incentivized to consider only postdoctoral candidates with the lowest ancillary burden—those without spouses and/or children needing health insurance, for example. Or worse, take only those who will accept merciless working conditions not conducive to supportive training and mentorship. PIs also lament the shift in attitude about the purpose of postdoctoral studies. The idealists among us still think postdocs should be short-lived positions that foster intellectual growth and career development. In this framework, the postdoc is not labor, but rather a labor of love. Money shouldn’t matter. Of course, that romanticism is based on the assumption that a fulfilling job awaits every diligent postdoc. What can we do to further our postdocs’ interests and help guide them toward career fulfillment? To start, we can speak up when search committees rank applicants based on bean counting. We end this war of attrition by considering candidates with fewer years of postdoc experience and, accordingly, shorter publication lists. To be sure, it is harder work to evaluate job candidates based on future promise rather than past production, but important in order to interrupt the vicious cycle. Some sectors have held to this mission—chemical engineering departments, for example, who still hire freshly minted PhDs as new faculty then delay their start dates so they can pursue a postdoctoral experience should they choose. Additionally, we can support our postdocs when their job search stretches out with months of travel and absences from the lab, maybe over more than one season. We can remember that a postdoctoral fellow came to us for training, mentorship and new sources of inspiration, not just to labor toward a better job. Being paid a modest but livable wage is not too much to expect given all that postdocs contribute to a lab with their skills and experience. Our academic institutions can also help promote the well-being of their postdoctoral communities. For example, they can support strained PIs by providing financial support through internal fellowships—or by covering the costs of health insurance for postdocs and their families. Career development activities that introduce postdocs to a wider spectrum of career opportunities are now visible on many campuses. And postdocs themselves are organizing to amplify their collective voice, as illustrated by the postdoc-organized Future of Research Symposium held in Boston in 2014. The DOL policy changes have intensified the spotlight that is rightfully illuminating critical issues facing postdocs today. And the urgency of increasing the national investment in science is once again laid bare.