SEAHO Report - Spring 2024 - 22

Well?
Despite much of the existing research regarding staff attrition in student affairs and HRL pointing to
supervision as the answer, this study found that to be absent from most all narratives in their reasonings for
exiting HRL and doing so off cycle. Most participants cited a lack of growth and advancement opportunities
prompting their departure from HRL. Although work-life balance and on-call operations, the mid-year
departures were overall more directed due to the timing of opportunities than a true escaping from
horrible environments. A note for housing professionals to be mindful of and incorporate into their hiring
and onboarding practices, is that they remain one of the few functional areas that attempts to hire on a
strict academic-year cycle. However, a major finding was that nearly every participant deliberately cited the
number of foundational skills and preparation that their careers in HRL provided them. As we colloquially
mention housing and residence life as a " training ground " of student affairs, this data confirmed this through
participant narratives. In the findings I identified four main themes each with their own subthemes providing
more specific context of the commonly found prompts and motivators in attempting to illustrate the research
questions.
As a scholar-practitioner whose passion lies within serving in HRL for their entire career thus far, I know the
incredible impact it can have on an institution and its students, graduate, and professional staff. Because
of this, I am eager to see it survive and continue as a training ground for HESA professionals and also an
entry-point for undergraduate leadership and development. It is because of these insights and experiences,
combined with the collected data from this study and those before it, that I believe the field of HRL must
adapt and reinvent itself in order to thrive in the future of higher education. It is clear that new professionals
have employment options both within HESA as well as the private business sector. Gone are the days where
HRL departments were able to be selective of the countless applications for these entry-level, live-in roles. In
today's employment landscape still rebounding from the pandemic, positions are sitting open for months at a
time with only a few applicants worthy of advancing in the process. With staff departing during the academic
year, finding suitable and qualified candidates mid-year is an even greater challenge for departments.
How?
While the results of this study provided insight into the research question of issues that motivated these
individuals to leave their roles in HRL but remain in HESA, it offered guidance into their experiences while
in HRL. I do not believe this study to have proven data-backed presumptions that HRL staff are leaving this
functional area at a greater rate related to other areas in HESA, nor does it disprove this assertion. However,
I do subscribe to the prominence of difficult working conditions and the unique pieces of HRL expectations
in the data should be considered for renovation. In identifying my recommendations following these findings
and in reflecting upon the participants' narratives, I directed them in three ways: HRL departments, entrylevel
live-in housing employees, and the field of HESA and graduate preparation programs.
Departments should reconsider off-cycle departures from their organizations not as failures but to rather
understand the natural turnover associated with employment practices. Few other functional areas within
HESA operate on a strict academic year hiring window. Understanding and coming to terms with this can
allow for better preparation in operational and staffing practices to balance vacancies when they occur.
This can also prompt more effective off-cycle onboarding efforts to increase staff buy-in and alignment of
organizational commitment in a new employee entering mid-year. The impacts of supportive offboarding
may then follow to call some who exit HRL back to this functional area in the future or encourage them to
mentor undergraduates into this area.
The professional socialization that occurs must be monitored and adjusted to match the departmental
priorities and processes. This includes setting and enforcing boundaries for live-in staff to feel that the
job resources accompany the job expectations. Despite so much research attributing supervision as the
core factor of satisfaction for a staff member, this study has shown that working conditions are the main
motivators for retention. How a supervisor enforces expectations and the ways in which departmental
directives are carried out contribute to overall working conditions. However, the on-call requirements, work
schedules, flexibility, and growth opportunities set by a department are crucial to a strong framework for
positive working conditions.
A recommendation for new professionals in HRL departments is to allow for the ability to grow into a role.
With the self-imposed pressure to succeed, new professionals can judge themselves against peers with
more experience or in other functions. Some of the participants in this study echoed these sentiments when
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SEAHO Report - Spring 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Spring 2024