The CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey

The CUPA-HR Higher Education Employee Retention Survey (ERS) was created to better understand the factors underlying the retention crisis that continues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic -- the reasons higher ed employees are looking for other employment, the characteristics of those at risk for leaving, and what higher ed leaders can do to retain their employees. Given the fact that voluntary turnover remains on an increasing trajectory, we administered the ERS for the second time in 2023 to assess the proportion of the workforce that remains at risk for leaving, understand how the retention picture has changed, and provide a model for higher ed employee retention that helps leadership target and prioritize their resources, policies, training, and initiatives to improve retention. Results of the survey showed that more than half of higher ed employees are at least somewhat likely to look for other employment within the next year. In addition, although employees say that a pay increase is the primary reason they're looking, our model shows that the strongest predictor of retention by far is basic job satisfaction. [For the 2022 survey results, see ED621580 and ED625512.]