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Higher education professionals are on the move, especially those outside of the faculty ranks. According to data released last month by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, the voluntary turnover rate for higher education staff was at its highest point last year since CUPA-HR began measuring it in 2017-18. Exempt staff was 14.3% and nonexempt was 15.2%, up from 7.9% and 9.4%, respectively, in 2020-21.
“Turnover definitely picked up two years ago and continued to escalate last year,” said Andy Brantley, CUPA-HR president and chief executive officer. “What will be interesting is to see if we’ve reached a more stable employment base. Some volatility might continue for people who work in certain areas that indicate a greater likelihood of searching for something new, and we might see the turnover trend continue to be higher than it was before the pandemic.”
The survey results showed that 33% of higher education staff said they were “very likely” or “likely” to look for new employment opportunities in the next year. The areas of greater likelihood that Brantley referred to were for people who work in student affairs (39%) and enrollment management (36%).
For many reasons, college and university administrators are more likely to change jobs than faculty, and this is evidenced by the numbers of job postings on HigherEdJobs the last two years.
From August 2019 to August 2021, the average monthly number of faculty and non-faculty job postings was nearly equal, but since August 2021 the average monthly percentage of non-faculty job postings was just shy of 60%.
So why are administrators and staff so eager to leave?
Better pay is a big motivation. More than half ranked it the No. 1 reason, and 86% put it in their top three. This is not a surprising preference for all types of professions, and it’s reasonable to assume that most other industries will pay their employees more, especially in the for-profit sector.
But one thing that Brantley noted is the increased preference to work remotely, which more than 44% of survey respondents said was among their top three reasons to seek new opportunities.
“Employees are looking for other options that provide more flexibility in scheduling and more hybrid and remote opportunities to engage with their employers,” Brantley said. “There’s a significant disconnect between what employees are currently required to do in terms of their in-person experiences versus what they would prefer to do. It’s not just in terms of the ability to work remotely or do hybrid work, but also some degree of flexibility. We think these are the key drivers to a lot of the turnover that we are seeing in the last year or so.”
More than two-thirds (68.3%) of respondents said they can perform most or all of their duties remotely, and 68.8% said they prefer either a completely remote or hybrid work arrangement, but only about a third (34.5%) have that at their current institution. This even tracks for people in student affairs positions, with 62% saying they can do their job remotely but 77% of the work is completely or mostly on campus.
A bigger paycheck and not having to drive to a campus as much might seem like higher education staffers are poised to leave academe. But that’s not the case.
Seventy-one percent of respondents said they were seeking jobs at other higher education institutions, but 44% wanted another position at their current school (61.4% listed a for-profit company and 49% another non-profit organization outside of academe).
“It is fortunate that a large percentage (of people) are looking at higher education for their next role,” Brantley said. “People are finding their career path in higher education, which is a good thing. This creates a significant opportunity for institution leaders to really consider ways to be competitive and ensure that they are viewed as an employer of choice.”
To be competitive, employers must provide better benefits such as paid parental leave and they must foster better work environments in which employees are satisfied and feel connected to the institution.
That can be a tremendous challenge for institutions that can’t afford to pay larger salaries or maintain a collaborative community as more work is being done (or could be done) off-campus. The gap could certainly widen between the schools capable of investing in their employees and those employers who continue to ask for more hours with less pay for their current staff, despite them having more options to leave.
Employees clearly have opportunities to consider, whether it’s one that allows them to work from home more frequently or it’s on a campus whose leaders recognize that they need to do more to recruit and retain talent.
Higher education professionals are on the move. That is clear based on the last two years. But the people who are making decisions that will continue the trend are the employers just as much as the employees.
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