Putting In the Work to Retain Higher Education IT Staff

In June, EDUCAUSE released its 2025 Cybersecurity and Privacy Workforce in Higher Education study, which confirms that higher ed cybersecurity teams tend to be overworked and understaffed. Only 21% of respondents said their unit has enough staff to meet its goals, while 68% reported excessive workloads. Despite these statistics, nearly a third of respondents said their institutions have not taken actions to address their workloads.

Buck Bell, head of CDW’s Global Security Strategy Office, says there are some things organizations can do to improve job satisfaction among cybersecurity staffers.

“Everybody wants to feel like they’re contributing. They want to feel like their work matters,” he says. “Things such as job rotation can help, putting people into roles to let them gain additional experience. Putting together a training strategy can help them develop their own careers. Finding the right mix between human factors and automation is important.”