The last 20 years have brought major workload changes for academics globally, with the feeling that an academic in today's global higher education industry has three full-time jobs (research, teaching and service). Following recent Government reforms, the Australian higher education sector has been forced to redefine itself in a more commercial context. The need to research workloads over time is recommended owing to changes as a result of growth, internationalisation and increasing competition. This longitudinal study comprises 5 years of observable teaching and research workloads capturing the teaching and research output of more than 85 individuals in two Australian university business faculties. Our results reinforce the axiom ‘publish or perish’ as it is the number of research papers published which increases the chances of internal promotion. Other observed workload characteristics, number of courses taught, number of students, research income and the number of research grants awarded, did not increase the likelihood of internal promotion. Suggestions for policy reforms and further research are identified.