The Higher Ed HR Workforce

The strategic management of human resources (HR) is the foundation on which organizational success is built and maintained. Every organization seeks to attract and retain the talent necessary to fulfill its mission, considering both the needs of today and looking into the future. Higher education is no exception, and higher education human resources plays a central strategic role in shaping the organizational environment of their institution. In higher education, human resources might be responsible for recruitment, training, employee relations, payroll, benefits, job classification, institutional effectiveness, diversity and inclusion efforts, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission/Affirmative Action (EEOC/AA) or Title IX compliance, to name only a few roles. Higher education HR works to recruit and retain top talent, develop the skills and talents of employees, and foster an inclusive environment on campus. The work of HR also involves developing comprehensive people strategies that drive operational excellence throughout an institution and throughout the employee life cycle, from onboarding to retirement. In this report, the authors examine the people and positions that make up the higher education human resources workforce. The human resources positions examined here come from 31 positions surveyed across College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR's) "Administrators, Staff, and Professionals in Higher Education" surveys. This report begins by describing the demographic characteristics of the higher education HR workforce in terms of race/ethnicity, sex, age, and time serving in their current role. Next, it details HR staffing ratios relative to other higher education employees and provides an overview of specialization areas within higher education HR. This report also examines how specialization in different areas within HR impacts salary and career trajectories. Finally, it spotlights the chief human resources officer position to examine how representation, compensation, and the reporting relationship of this key HR position varies among higher education institutions. [This report was made possible with the support of PageUp.]