Last year, results from the CUPA-HR Employee Retention Survey pilot had a big impact.
Nearly 4,000 higher education employees took the survey, and the results depicted a landscape where more than half of employees were looking for other
employment opportunities, a trend that appeared to be getting worse, and one that mirrored what we were hearing about a retention crisis in higher education.
Those results were summarized in two reports that included data on the reasons employees were looking for other
employment, as well as recommendations for improving retention. These reports were widely cited in higher education publications and academic journals. On the success of those reports and the ongoing work needed to gather data on this topic CUPA-HR Senior Vice President, Rob Shomaker stated:
The retention and attraction of top talent is one of the biggest challenges facing our institutions today. The results of last year's collection were tremendously helpful for decision-makers on campus. This year we hope to grow participation with better representation of employees of color, men, and non-supervisors. By participating in this survey, and encouraging others on your team to do the same, you are helping to provide the data needed to create change as we strive to be employers of choice, attract and retain top talent, and achieve our missions.
CUPA-HR is preparing to conduct this survey again to evaluate whether there are any changes from last year, as well as to assess what higher education institutions have implemented to mitigate the retention crisis. This year, we’re expanding our outreach
to represent more higher education employees that were underrepresented in last year’s survey — people of color, men, and non-supervisors. We also want to better represent employees from the spectrum of departments and roles across campus.
We need your help
We would very much appreciate your planning now to announce this survey to all employees
across your institution when the survey opens on April 10.
For more information, and to access some sample text for announcing this survey, visit the web page we've set up for leaders who will be distributing the survey.
Thank you for helping us inform the national dialog and prioritize solutions in the retention of our valuable higher education employees.
If you have questions about the survey, please contact research@cupahr.org.