Alfred P. Sloan Projects for

Faculty Career Flexibility

Dr. Claire Van Ummersen, Senior Advisor

American Council on Education

September 10, 2013

The National Challenge for Higher Education

Project Background Corporate Business Sector

• Top American companies have begun to provide supports for employees to continue

working that are not just financial in nature. New opportunities include flexible working

times, stops in careers, unpaid leaves, career customization, concierge services, etc.

Examples of companies that offer these options are: Accenture, Bristol-Myers

Squibb, Deloitte, Marriott, and Cisco Systems.

• Top executives have encouraged their counterparts to adopt similar options to attract

the best talent to the corporate sector.

• American universities will have to compete with these companies to attract, recruit,

and retain the same kind of talent that they employ (i.e., doctorate-degree holders).

• ACE is modeling our current campaign on the campaign that was undertaken in

corporate business sector.

The National Challenge for Higher Education:

Retaining a 21st Century Workforce

• The National Challenge for Higher Education is a campaign to promote faculty career

flexibility within colleges and universities.

• Presidents who have signed on to the campaign demonstrate their commitment to

faculty career flexibility by:

– Communicating the importance of flexibility to their faculty and relevant

constituents.

– Committing to sustain flexibility as an important support for faculty throughout

their careers.

– Providing sufficient funding to sustain flexible programs and policies.

– Training key academic administrators, such as department chairs, on faculty

career flexibility.

• The campaign will be active for one year, and the goal is to sign on 200-250

presidents in total, who will have pledged to create policies and programs that

enhance career flexibility for faculty.

• ACE is planning a culminating conference to increase awareness of this important

issue for our colleges and universities.

Benefits of Faculty Career Flexibility to the

University

Reputational Benefits

• Recruiting excellent faculty

• Retention of key faculty, stability of academic workforce

• Reputation as good place to work that supports families

• Satisfied faculty, which leads to greater productivity

• Advance institution’s mission

• Remaining competitive internationally

Financial Benefits

• Reduced turnover

• Reduced costs for recruiting (e.g., advertising costs, start-up costs, time spent on

search process, cost of lost productivity)

• Less health insurance claims due to stress, etc.

Cost-Benefit Models

• Iowa State University’s Model – Through a National Science Foundation (NSF) “ADVANCE” grant, Iowa State University created a template

for determining the monetary cost analysis of their flexible policies, broken down by four different department

categories (listed as A,B,C and D in the chart below). Their findings showed an average savings of $83,099

by retaining one faculty member through flexible policies, rather than having to hire a new faculty member.

Cost-benefit Analysis A B C D Average

Search Committee Costs Sub-Total $6,872 $8,065 $5,727 $5,021 $6,470

On-Campus Interview Costs Sub-Total $2,711 $4,788 $2,029 $3,392 $3,072

Advertising & Covered Classes Costs $53,084 $59,978 $39,765 $32,784 $48,352

Average Assistant Professor Start-Up Costs FY 2003-FY 2006 Sub-Total $310,621 $310,472 $93,225 $64,351 $167,222

Average Cost to Hire One New 9-Month Assistant Professor (Tenure-

Eligible)

$373,288 $383,304 $140,746 $105,548 $111,432

Average Cost to Retain One 9-Month Assistant Professor from FY 2006-FY

2007 Sub-Total

$65,946 $78,516 $57,559 $50,471 $66,220

Estimated Staff Cost (Central) to Administer Flexible Policies $625 $625 $625 $625 $625

Total Cost to Maintain Faculty with Flexible Policies $66,571 $79,141 $58,184 $51,096 $28,332

Dollars Saved with Flex Policy Retention vs. Hiring New $306,717 $304,162 $82,562 $54,453 $83,099

For more detail, visit http://www.advance.iastate.edu/conference/conferencepdf/2008_10-11gahncarlson_hoc2.pdf.