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HelioCampus Research

The Imperative of Labor Cost Analytics

81% of higher education financial leaders find data for faculty and staff labor costs to be "very important" or "important"

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Data Insights: Summary of Key Findings

HelioCampus’s research uncovers labor cost analytics as a key tool for two of the four most important management needs of today’s higher ed financial leader. 

  • In rank order, the top four financial management needs of leaders are as follows: Tuition & Fee Management, Staff Training & Development, Strategic Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

  • 81% of surveyed financial leaders found data for faculty and staff labor costs to be "very important" or "important" to their overall financial management processes.

  • Over 80% of respondents find labor cost data important for the following activities: cost control, budget management, and strategic financial planning according to the survey.
"Our purpose is to provide higher education with technology and analyses designed to make the business of higher education easier to manage. By deepening our understanding of the importance of labor cost analytics, we're better able to serve the financial leaders charged with navigating unprecedented times."
Darren Catalano
HelioCampus CEO
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How financial leaders are using labor cost data

The research report outlines two common ways that financial leaders are using labor cost data. 88% of those surveyed indicated that they find internal benchmarks of labor cost data important for cost control. 76% of those surveyed indicated that they find external benchmarks of labor cost data important for strategic financial planning. Interestingly, the research highlighted that that is not a common tool for doing this across campuses. 

About the Research

Research was conducted in October 2024 using a third party research firm who sourced participants and conducted the research. No representation from HelioCampus was involved in the participant selection or subsequent qualitative interviews. Exactly 100 surveys were collected over a 4 week period, including 54 financial professionals from R2 institutions, and 46 from R1 institutions.

 

For more information regarding the survey, please contact: Kylie Johnson, Senior Director of Communications, kylie.johnson@heliocampus.com.

About HelioCampus

HelioCampus partners with higher ed’s most forward-thinking leaders, providing a unique set of tools designed to help them rise to the challenge of today’s high stakes. Through HelioCampus’s Institutional Performance Management products and services, higher ed institutions can tap into groundbreaking processes that enable them to deliver on their mission by driving enrollments, controlling expenses, and improving learning outcomes.

 

 

 

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