A Deeper Understanding of Employee Retention

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 | 10:45AM–11:30AM CT | Meeting Room 205, Level 2
Session Type: Featured Session
Delivery Format: Featured Session
Although voluntary turnover in higher ed professionals has decreased from post-pandemic all-time highs, it still remains higher than it was pre-COVID. And in IT, retention of talent is an ongoing and primary concern. The CUPA-HR Higher Education Employee Retention Survey (ERS) was created to better understand the factors underlying retention: the reasons employees are looking for other employment, the characteristics of those at risk for leaving, and what higher ed leaders should prioritize to improve retention. We administered the ERS for the third time in 2025 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. For this presentation, we will focus on the specific factors that underlie the retention of IT employees in 2025 and how those results compare/contrast with retention of other employees. Two EDUCAUSE members will provide their perspectives on the results and will help facilitate a discussion on the importance of job satisfaction, fair pay, flexible work, and overwork on the retention of IT staff. 

Presenters

  • Jackie Bichsel

    Associate Vice President of Research, College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR)

  • Mark McCormack

    Senior Director of Research & Insights, EDUCAUSE

Resources & Downloads

  • Employee Retention slides

    Updated on 6/13/2026