Faculty retention is one of the core challenges that educational institutions in India face. A study by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) found that the average turnover rate of faculty members in Indian universities is over 7%.  

Why Is Faculty Retention A Pressing Issue? 

Because the education of students depends on faculty members. So when a university faces a shortage of quality educators, it impacts their students academic progress, their research opportunities, and their overall performance. 

Another reason that faculty retention is important is because it affects the productivity and mindset of employees. Productivity happens only when the faculty members feel valued and satisfied with their current environment. Lack of it often creates conflict and affects day-to-operations. 

And the most important reason why faculty retention is important, it’s because a high turnover affects a universities’ image and admissions eventually.  

Before we move on to discuss how an employee management system helps with employee retention, let’s understand what an EMS is. 

What is an Employee Management System?

An employee management system is either a standalone system or a part of an enterprise resource planning [ERP] software. It is a tech solution that helps organizations manage their employees. 

It comes with features to automate repetitive tasks in the employee management process such as payroll, attendance, timetable, etc. Employee management system is not just for the admins or the decision makers in an educational institution, it is also helpful for the employees in their day-to-day tasks. 

Using an employee management system can help universities with faculty retention. Let’s discuss how it does that. 

Reasons for High Faculty Turnover in Universities

Teacher turnover is a major problem in universities. There are a number of reasons that cause contribute to this high turnover rate, including:

• Heavy workload: University teachers typically have a heavy workload, including teaching, research, and administrative duties. This can lead to burnout and stress.
• Lack of support: University teachers may feel unsupported by their administrators and colleagues. This can include a lack of resources, professional development opportunities, and mentorship.
• Poor work-life balance: University teachers often work long hours and have difficulty finding time for their personal lives. This can lead to dissatisfaction and stress.

Ofcourse it could also be due to other specific reasons such as teachers may leave to pursue a better higher-paying or more prestigious job, to get away from a toxic work environment, to move closer to family, etc. 

But how can these issues be addressed with an employee management system? Let’s learn how. 

How can an Employee Management System Help Institutions Improve Faculty Retention?

Since an employee management system is equipped with features that helps both university administration and employees it can help with faculty retention.

It can, 

• Streamline Administrative Tasks 

With an EMS, administrators can automate time consuming tasks such as, 

• Payroll: Automatically calculate employee pay, generate paychecks, and file taxes.

• Performance reviews: Faculty members can track their performance goals since employee management systems can generate automated performance reviews, helping them save time and effort.

• Onboarding: Streamline the onboarding process for new faculty members. Easily provide them with access to important information, such as employee policies and procedures, benefits details, and training resources.   

For example, here’s how the onboarding process in a university will work with an EMS:

• When a new faculty member is hired, they can be added to the EMS.
• The EMS can then send the new faculty member a welcome email with instructions on how to set up their account and access important information.
• The EMS can also provide the new faculty member with a list of tasks that need to be completed before they start teaching, such as submitting the necessary documents.
• The new faculty member can use the EMS to complete these tasks and track their progress.
• Once the new faculty member has completed all of the onboarding tasks, they will be ready to start teaching.

Improve communication and collaboration

EMS helps institutions improve communication and collaboration within their faculty members with a central platform. 

Second, EMSs can be used to create and manage discussion forums.  This helps the  faculty to work together on projects, like developing curricula or writing research papers. 

EMS can help faculty members collaborate better by providing a communication platform and making it easier for them to create and manage tasks. This can lead to increased job satisfaction and retention. 

For example, EMS can be used to:

• Send announcements and updates to students
• Collect feedback from students on courses and teaching
• Facilitate faculty-student collaboration on research projects
• Provide faculty with access to resources and support from administrators

Support Faculty Development and Career Growth

Employee management systems (EMSs) can be used to support faculty development and career growth in a number of ways.

First, to track faculty performance. This can be done by setting goals, tracking progress, and providing feedback. 

EMSs can be used to create personalized development plans for faculty members. These plans can include specific training activities that help them stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices in their field. 

 

FAQs 

• What is an employee retention strategy? 

Employee retention strategy is a plan to keep employees happy and productive to reduce the number of employees who leave. 

• How does management style impact retention? 

Management style has a significant impact on employee retention. Employees are more likely to stay when key elements like communication, trust, recognition and rewards, growth and development are given importance. 

• What are the factors in teacher retention? 

Some of the most common factors for teacher retention are compensation & benefits, working conditions, professional development, and work-life balance. 

• How does employee management software help teachers?

Employee management software (EMS) can help teachers in many ways, including automating time-consuming tasks [attendance tracking, payroll processing, and performance management] 

• How do you retain academic staff? 

There are lots of different strategies to retain academic staff but choosing an erp software with employee management, attendance management, payroll management is a good one to use. 

EndNote

Retaining faculty staff is a pressing challenge but with the right tools to manage employee attendance, database, transport, etc. you can improve your efforts to do so. Since faculty retention affects a university’s daily operations, students, and overall image it is wise to pay proper attention to it and take appropriate actions for it. 

An employee management system is helpful in managing and improving three areas in a university such as,

→ Administrative Tasks

→ Communication & Collaboration

→ Faculty Development & Growth 

Switching to an online management tool like an ERP software is vital for management and planning. It is an all-in-one solution if you will. So if you’re looking for such a tool, you can try SWEEDU. 

For more information on our university management software, check out our other page. 

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