Keeping employees engaged while minimizing turnover is a crucial component of institutional success, but unfortunately many colleges and universities are hampered by a culture of disengagement. Recent studies have found that many faculty members and other employees feel they are not engaged with their work. How can higher ed leaders address this common challenge by […]
The higher education press has been filled recently with stories about abrupt firings of presidents and other senior executives at universities and colleges across the nation. What was once an infrequent occurrence now seems a weekly, almost daily event. Speculating on the reasons for this trend—financial pressures, decreasing enrollment, board dissension or the injection of […]
What do you see as the biggest roadblock for finance offices at colleges in moving away from spreadsheet-based budgeting and financial planning? “The biggest roadblock is changing existing processes that are constrained by outdated technology. With a platform [that has] data integrations, linking, collaboration, control and a full audit trail, finance teams can create […]
Two years ago, the human resources department at the University of Santa Monica was predominantly paper-based. Since then, the school has implemented an HR information system along with a new management platform called Employee Self-Onboarding by BambooHR. “The onboarding function absolutely changed my life,” says Elisa Perry, HR director at the school. The new platform […]
Health insurance is a hot topic in Congress, and that’s not the only place. Each year, campus leaders are confronted by a daunting need to contain costs while providing benefits expected by employees. Annual premiums at higher ed institutions averaged $7,059 for employee-only coverage and $19,584 for family plans in 2016, according to CUPA-HR. Reported […]
Form a benefits committee. At Lawrence University in Wisconsin, a benefits advisory committee works with an insurance broker to contain costs and determine the best plan designs while providing competitive employee benefits. The committee, which is chartered by the president, includes several administrators from finance and HR along with two faculty members. “The committee is […]
No institution can be better than its faculty. An institution can be better than its president, its football team, its library and its food service—but if the faculty are weak, the institution is weak. We are in an exciting time for faculty in that their roles are expanding with new opportunities in online education, MOOCs, […]
A January memorandum issued by Richard Griffin, the current general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, has further stoked long-running debate over whether university students should be deemed "employees" who can assert collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The issue has particular significance for schools with high-profile football or other athletic […]
Over the last three years, adjuncts at 46 colleges joined the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Among the latest are those at Duke, University of Southern California, Northeastern and Hillsborough Community College. Problems involving adjunct salaries and benefits have been festering for years. Compare tenured professors who command six figures to adjuncts who average $2,700 […]
While many institutions that examine their tuition remission spending wind up reining in spending in this area, some schools are actually increasing the benefit to better recruit and retain top-notch talent. Last year, leaders at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, increased the tuition benefit for employees’ spouses and children from 75 […]
