by Monika Sziron, Ph.D.
Jelena Zelen/Shutterstock
In the past two years, our work arrangements in higher education have ebbed and flowed to accommodate COVID-19 protocols. CUPA-HR and EDUCAUSE have released new data from a recent study that focused on preferred work arrangements and actual work arrangements. The study participants included higher education IT professionals and higher education HR professionals. The results may have implications on the future of work in higher education.
“About one-third (36%) of respondents reported total alignment (a score of 0) between their preferred and actual work arrangements. That leaves nearly two-thirds of respondents reporting some degree of misalignment between preferred and actual work arrangements. The greatest percentage of misalignment cases (51%) occur with just one or two degrees of misalignment in the direction of employees preferring more remote work options than what their current work arrangement allows.”
These results correlate with an increasing interest in finding new employment. The higher the misalignment scores correlated with a higher likelihood of looking for other employment. “…When employees prefer more remote work opportunities than what they actually get, they are more likely to seek other employment.”
The data revealed that the increase in likelihood of looking for other employment opportunities was more profound in non-leadership staff.
Ultimately, more flexible work arrangements, including work-from-home options, may be necessary to retain staff and be more common in the future of work in higher education.
Read the full research report, Providing Remote Work Opportunities Will Aid Your Retention Efforts.
About CUPA-HR
CUPA-HR is the recognized authority on compensation surveys for higher education, with its salary surveys designed by higher ed HR professionals for higher ed HR professionals and other campus leaders. This marks CUPA-HR’s 24th year of data collection on higher education professionals. Learn more about CUPA-HR research.
CUPA-HR is higher ed HR. We serve higher education by providing the knowledge, resources, advocacy and connections to achieve organizational and workforce excellence. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and serving more than 33,000 HR professionals and other campus leaders at nearly 2,000 member institutions and organizations around the country and abroad, the association offers learning and professional development programs, higher education salary and benefits data, extensive online resources and just-in-time regulatory and legislative information.
