Actual Comments from Employees Who Left:

“Weekly Professional Development and Staff Meetings were taking up too much time in the schedule to actually get my individual parts of the job done. There was NO time left over for individual planning, behavior/classroom management issues, or classroom/activity prep.”

“Faculty reviews are brutal, largely focusing on how teachers have not reformed to Common
Core quickly and effectively enough.”

“Administration does not consider the time they are asking teachers to give up IN ADDITION TO the time they have already sacrificed outside of required hours. Furthermore, in-school professional development is not instructive; rather, it is filled with berating lectures, useless handouts, and information that could easily be disseminated via E-mail. Given everything we are asked to do, this is a disrespectful use of our time.”

The Problem

Nearly half a million U.S. teachers move or leave the profession annually, according to a 2014 report by the Alliance for Excellent Education. Addressing the report results, the president of the Alliance and former West Virginia governor, Bob Wise, pointed out that “The monetary cost of teacher attrition pales in comparison to the loss of human potential associated with hard-to-staff schools that disproportionately serve low-income students and students of color. In these schools, poor learning climates and low achievement often result in students—and teachers—leaving in droves.”

The Solution

You can’t stop the exodus if you don’t understand what is driving it. That’s where employee engagement survey vendors like HSD Metrics® can help. Understanding how teachers and other staff members perceive the demands on their schedule, their compensation packages and other aspects of their work within academic institutions offers much-needed insights that can help administrators address the problem of teacher attrition. For example, in one survey conducted by HSD Metrics, a common complaint was that “In-school professional development is not instructive; rather, it is filled with berating lectures, useless handouts, and information that could easily be disseminated via E-mail.” Armed with this information, school administrators can revise their approach to professional development by

• Gathering teacher input on meaningful lecture topics
• Evaluating materials to ensure their usefulness
• Leveraging e-mail more effectively to cut down on time demands

HSD Metrics offers new hire, stay, and exit interview platforms. Contact HSD Metrics today to find out how our platforms help organizations ranging from academic institutions to hospitals improve employee satisfaction while meeting organizational performance and quality standards.