The Future of Work in FSL

Thinking about the future of work perhaps elicits visions of George Jetson packing his briefcase into his flying car or robots taking over offices. We might not be quite there yet, but the reality is, the future of work is here; and higher education is likely at the precipice of a major workforce transformation.

The current employment model for higher education is not sustainable. As enrollment has declined and universities have merged and closed, amenities have increased and support staff salaries have stagnated. If universities seek to thrive in the present and future, they must adapt to modern employment trends and start integrating both technology and human resources. Here are a few truths:

1. College enrollment is declining. It has been for eight straight years. There are numerous reasons for this. For example, lower birth rates mean fewer students and more space at universities. Also, public support of higher education is wavering, particularly regarding the perceived ROI of a degree and concerns of mounting student loan debt.

2. The gig economy is on the rise. In fact, some university career centers are providing resources to students to prepare them for this type of career path instead of the traditional, full-time employment path. And this is with good reason! The gig economy provides more flexibility for workers, giving them the opportunity to work on specialized projects that are suited to their skill sets on a more fluid time schedule. It also saves money for employers as having an ever-evolving workforce precludes them from providing benefits to every person doing work for the company. The full-time employment model is no longer viable for everyone.

3. There is a growing gap between workers who embrace and understand how to use technology and those who do not. Higher education is going to want to be on the right side of this trend. Artificial intelligence is improving and growing faster than we can conceptualize; higher education workers need to up-skill or re-skill to operate within more technologically advanced settings.

The reality of the future of higher education, specifically student support services, is that we simply will not need nearly as many full-time employees. It is not economically feasible, and it is not in alignment with staffing or technology trends in the broader workforce. Just briefly consider these questions:

• When we lose our IDs, why should we have to go to the ID Center to talk to a person who must pull out a blank card and print? This process could be entirely automated.
• Why do we need full-time staffs to deliver programs? It would be tremendously cost saving to hire specialized gig workers to deliver high-impact programs rather than keeping full-time staff members on the payroll year round (many of whom may not actually be experts in all aspects of their programming jobs!).
• What purpose is there to having a full time IT staff on site when IT professionals can VPN into your computer remotely to troubleshoot your issues? Again, specialized gig workers could be doing this work for multiple campuses simultaneously giving them more flexibility for hours worked while also freeing up office space on campus.

If you give it some thought, there are countless ways to create a more economically sound staffing model in student affairs while still providing an excellent product, aligning the field with broader employment trends, and taking into account the needs of employees. I’m not saying we can or should entirely eliminate or automate student support staff; I am saying, however, that there are opportunities to engage an evolving and highly skilled workforce and maximize technology implementation to strengthen the viability of universities for the future.

Fraternity and sorority life has been feeding into the gig economy for years- this is why we bring in content experts to speak during Hazing Prevention Week or hire Dyad Strategies to conduct campus assessments. Why do we do this? On the surface it’s because we want someone specialized, but it’s rooted in the fact that it would be an enormous cost to keep these people on our payroll year-round when we do not need their specialized focus all the time. As the student support workforce transforms to align with broader employment trends, fraternity and sorority professionals, along with our student affairs colleagues, will be called upon to demonstrate our impact. Essentially, why can’t your full-time staff be replaced by AI or specialized contractors?

The primary response to this is that fraternity and sorority advising requires uniquely human skills; that is, the skillset required to work in our field cannot be programmed into AI and cannot be farmed out entirely to gig workers. For instance, AI cannot navigate the campus political climate with stakeholders or demonstrate empathy for low performing chapters; gig workers do not bring the historical context of campus traditions or know the steps to the intricate dance we so frequently perform to placate major players in the community. But this response will not be enough: when the future of universities as we know them is on the line, you must be able to define your value to the institution.

Fraternity and sorority professionals often attempt to demonstrate value by being all things to all people, but it is this approach that deters us from focusing on strategic priorities that will drive us towards a sustainable future. A calendar full of one-on-ones and a drawer of thank you notes does not demonstrate departmental impact: data does. This is the time to work smarter, not harder, to embrace emerging technology, and to define our unique value in the broader higher education field.

Data driven fraternity and sorority communities can easily demonstrate have how they’ve moved the needle using measurable information to pinpoint specific trouble areas for chapters and communities alike. Campuses have leveraged this type of information to advocate for chapters, to inform the decision to close chapters when conduct is deemed impermissible and shift the way professionals talk about the fraternity and sorority experience with students and stakeholders. Especially those campuses and organizations that have worked with Dyad for years, their longitudinal data tells a very clear story of professional impact. Dyad is at the forefront of disrupting the way we work with fraternities and sororities, and I suspect that this kind of specialized work is only going to become more critical to sustain our field.

A workforce transformation in higher education is almost certainly inevitable; fraternity and sorority professionals must consider the implications for our roles and how we remain relevant and effective in the midst of new technology and evolving employment models. Utilizing meaningful data will help to shape what the future of work will look like for fraternity and sorority professionals. 

Do you want to get out ahead? Dyad can help. 

Molly Devine Jambor is a member of Dyad Strategies facilitation team and also works as a Lead Learning and Development Specialist for one of America's largest consulting firms. She previously served as Associate Director of FSL at Texas Christian University, where she worked to incorporate Dyad data into the residential living/learning curriculum in fraternity/sorority housing. She is completing her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at the University of North Texas and is a former staff member and active volunteer for Phi Mu fraternity.