Senior staff members leave in search for new opportunities

SENIOR STAFF | from cover

“You always run the risk when you hire great people to have them continuing their career.” Neiduski said. “The experiences and opportunities that you are privileged to be a part of at Elon really helped you to prepare yourself for your next steps in your career.”

Vice President for student life Jon Dooley, who has worked at Elon for almost a decade, said the rate of faculty being recruited is a testament to the university’s work.

“It certainly speaks to the quality of the leadership we have at the institution,” Dooley said. “We know that there are lots of institutions that are looking at the work that’s happening here at Elon and so it’s no surprise that they would want to invite senior leaders at the university to be a part of their university.”

According to the Work Institute’s 2022 Retention Report, losing an employee voluntarily costs approximately 33% of their base pay, which includes finding and training a replacement and the loss of productivity of other employees. In 2021, the cost of turnover on all employers in the U.S. exceeded $700 billion — more than double 2009.

Despite many of her colleagues leaving, or have left, Jana Lynn Patterson, dean of students, has worked at Elon for 37 years and said she is proud of them and their promotions.

“They have the opportunity to grow and thrive, and then they become highly marketable as senior leaders,” Patterson said. “I’m proud of that. I’m sad to see these are my longtime colleagues, … but it is a great testament to our community’s ability to help talented professionals grow and thrive to their fullest potential.”

In an email to Elon News Network from Patrick Noltemeyer, chief of staff, and Kelli

Shuman, chief human resources officer, Noltemeyer and Shuman said though staff are being recruited due to Elon’s reputation, it is also attracting strong faculty.

“Elon has consistently demonstrated its role in higher education as a community that develops leaders through a deliberate process of continuously and strategically envisioning a stronger university model, and we expect that this reputation will enable us to continue to attract and retain the best administrators, faculty and staff,” Noltemeyer and Shuman wrote.

Twenty years ago, there were seven positions on senior staff. Now, there are 25 senior staff members including deans, according to the university’s administration website, a testament to how the university has grown.

Vice President for university advancement Jim Piatt will take some of Stein’s responsibilities — including managing the Student Professional Development Center and Office of Cultural and Special Program, among others — and become senior vice president for university advancement and external affairs, university President Connie Book announced April 25.

“Retention of all employees is a top priority for Elon, which is why we continually seek to examine, enhance and strengthen our salary and benefits structure to ensure that we are attracting and retaining exceptional employees at all levels of the organization,” Noltemeyer and Shuman wrote.

Stein and the other senior staff who have left are looking to tackle greater challenges and larger opportunities.

“We have always prepared our faculty and staff and students to take on greater challenges, so you are seeing a little bit more in a concentrated period, probably because there’s more openings out there at higher levels,” Stein said.