by Julie Burrell | April 23, 2025
Non-exempt staff make up more than a quarter of the higher ed workforce and provide frontline support to the campus community. They are the electricians, safety and security staff, custodians, office assistants, food service workers, and others who power higher ed’s day-to-day operations.
This vital workforce has also been shrinking. New research from CUPA-HR has shown a 9% decrease in the full-time non-exempt workforce since 2017, and an 8% decrease in the part-time non-exempt workforce during the same period.
It’s more important than ever to support your non-exempt employees by preventing burnout and bolstering work-life balance. Retention and recruitment must also remain a priority, with turnover rates for hourly non-exempt workers persistently high.
Here are six ideas for strengthening your employee value proposition for this key segment of the higher ed workforce.
Create Internal Career Pathways
Career growth is a key factor in employee satisfaction. Review your learning, development and promotion opportunities to ensure they provide pathways for all employees and are accessible to those who work outside of traditional office hours.
Upskilling non-exempt employees is also critical. Encourage managers and supervisors to identify who might step up to fill critical roles and who might need additional skills, certifications and competencies.
Don’t forget to include non-exempt employees in succession planning. Particular attention should be given to skilled craft staff, an area where the decreasing number of employees over the age of 55 might signal a potentially critical pipeline challenge.
Resource Spotlight: Hocus Pocus, Time to Focus: Innovative Career Development for Staff is an on-demand webinar detailing how the University of Tennessee Knoxville HR team built an innovative new career development unit. And learn how the University of Texas at Dallas’ BRIGHT leaders program uses a flexible model that encourages all employees to lead from where they are.
Prioritize Pay
Continue periodic pay equity reviews and work toward pay equity for all employees. Our research into the non-exempt workforce has found that women of all races/ethnicities continue to be paid less than White men who hold the same non-exempt staff positions.
Resource Spotlight: Reserve your spot in the upcoming CUPA-HR webinar Transitioning From a Broadband to a Market-Based Pay Structure to learn how University of Pittsburgh leaders replaced a 25-year-old classification system with a market-based job and compensation framework, including FLSA status adjustments. And learn about Maricopa Community College District’s strategic compensation plan in this two-part series on implementing a living wage strategy and establishing internal pay equity and market alignment.
Provide Flexibility When Possible
Many non-exempt staff need to be on campus to provide critical, in-person support to students and colleagues. But during the slower summer months, consider offering summer Fridays (either full or half-days off) and/or the option of longer shifts in exchange for fewer days per week worked.
For office employees, no-meetings Fridays set employees up for a successful Monday, ensuring they can wrap up their week and head into their weekend with less stress.
Last year, turnover was the highest among part-time hourly employees, at a rate of 25%. For this group, provide — and advertise — hours that support working parents and caregivers.
Tout Your Benefits
For both potential and current employees, benefits can be a key difference in recruitment and retention.
Do you offer competitive matching retirement contributions? Tuition benefits for employees and their families? Competitively priced health insurance? Prominently feature these benefits in your job recruitment materials. And partner with educational consultants from your retirement and insurance plans to make your current employees aware of their benefits.
Are outdated policies inadvertently causing turnover? Periodically review policies to increase benefits at no cost. For example, if your probationary period doesn’t allow sick leave, you may be losing recently onboarded staff.
Prevent Burnout
Because the non-exempt workforce is shrinking, it’s critical to avoid the overwork trap. Expecting non-exempt employees to do the work of multiple people can negatively impact job satisfaction.
What work might be discontinued or altered to adjust to less availability of staff? What work might be outsourced to help close the gap between staff availability and required work? Reductions in staffing should always be reviewed to determine what ongoing work is feasible and what work must be changed or eliminated.
Boost Culture
In addition to good benefits, culture is higher ed’s competitive advantage in the labor market.
Are both part-time and full-time non-exempt staff regularly being recognized for their work? Recognition is one of the lowest-cost retention tools that remains underused in higher ed overall. Examine how your HRIS and social media channels can be used to highlight consistently excellent employees.
Consider incorporating budget-friendly employee get-togethers into your campus routines, such as ice cream socials or pizza parties.
Resource Spotlight: Learn how to audit and boost your recognition program in Recalibrating Employee Recognition in Higher Education.
Explore more recommendations and the full data on the non-exempt workforce in CUPA-HR’s report, The Non-Exempt Higher Education Staff Workforce: Trends in Composition, Size, and Pay Equity.
