Employer of Choice Maturity Index

Introduction

Employer of Choice Maturity Index

What is this maturity index?

This maturity index assesses the degree to which your institution has the policies and practices in place to make it an employer of choice. Employers of choice tend to have a positive culture, recognize and appreciate employees, offer competitive compensation and benefits, provide opportunities for development and advancement, foster a good employee experience in terms of work-life balance and well-being, have a strong brand and reputation, develop effective leaders, and cultivate an environment of belonging and purpose for all employees. Employers of choice are more successful in attracting top talent, retaining that talent, having a productive workforce, and reducing the cost of high turnover.

How was this maturity index developed?

The content of this index has two sources. The first is the CUPA-HR Employee Retention Survey. This survey has found that a number of factors best predict which employees stay in their jobs: job satisfaction and well-being, confidence in leadership ethics and values, opportunities for promotion and advancement, overwork, flexible work, institutional stability and safety, satisfaction with benefits, and fair pay. Policies and practices that an institution would need to have in place to retain employees were developed as items for this maturity index.

Secondly, input was provided from higher education human resources leaders with expertise on the policies and practices that enhance recruitment and retention and make a higher ed institution an employer of choice, both within their regional employment ecosystem and within their community of higher ed peers.
Drawing on these sources, we have identified six key factors:

1. Recruitment
2. Recognition and Assessment
3. Development, Advancement, and Pay
4. Employee Experience
5. Leadership
6. Benefits

How should we use the maturity index at my institution? Who should complete it? How long will it take? When and how do we get results?

This index should be used to evaluate your institution’s policies and practices related to the factors that have been shown to contribute to being an employer of choice. You should use the results to identify areas of strength and areas of opportunity for growth.

This index should be completed by higher ed leaders with knowledge of the policies and practices that affect their institution’s workforce. This usually includes individuals in HR or campus leaders who supervise staff. You may have multiple leaders take the assessment separately and then use any differences in results as a starting point for a larger conversation. This is encouraged, as it will help you build consensus in these efforts. This is not a climate survey, in that the index is not designed to take the pulse of the entire workforce. Rather the index assesses systemic efforts, so only the individuals identified above should complete the assessment.

This survey has 26 questions and should take about 20 minutes to complete. There is an option to "save and continue" if you make progress on the index and find you need to pause. A link will be sent to the email address you provide so you can continue it later. (Be sure to check your spam folder if you don't receive it.) At the end of the survey, you will be able to review your responses and download them as a PDF. On the following page, your factor scores will be displayed, with an option to download them as a PDF as well.

Feedback

This index was designed by and for the higher education community. To help us refine this resource, we invite you to share your feedback at the end of this survey. Your input, combined with the data collected, is vital to the continuous improvement of the index. Thank you!

Will this data be confidential?

The scores you obtain on this index, as well as your responses, are confidential. Neither your name nor your institution's name will be associated with your data in any reporting. We highly encourage you to provide your institution's name when we ask for it to let us know which institutions are using the index. This data will allow us to continue to refine the index to make improvements, evolve the index over time, and ensure it remains a resource for the entire higher ed community.

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