Figures released by the university under the Official Information Act showed staff turnover has increased 70% from 8.7% in 2020 to 14.8% in 2022.
The university says the negative impact on staff in what could be one of the most challenging periods in its history is "significant".
However, turnover rates were on a par with similar employers and the figures included staff who left due to the expiry of fixed-term roles, it said.
This follows the university’s announcement last month it faces a $60 million shortfall in its budget and is looking to cut up to several hundred staff.
Tertiary Education Union (TEU) branch president Associate Prof Craig Marshall said many staff were considering their future at the university.
"Some have already left, or are going, partly due to pay rates, yes, but now also job security fears".
Turnover rates were higher among professional staff — nearly one-fifth of whom left last year — while for academic staff the rate was 9.4%.
In 2021, the total staff turnover was 12.8%, 15.9% of professional and 8.7% of academic staff leaving the university.
The most recent staff values survey provided some insight into how staff felt about their employment that year, less than half of respondents saying they would recommend the university as a great place to work.
In the two-yearly survey 48% of university staff said they would recommend the university as a great place to work, while 21% said they would not.
Of 2626 staff who responded, 37% also said their health and wellbeing had suffered because of work.
Associate Prof Brian Roper said government underfunding was "chronic," and staff were unhappy with the decisions of senior management.
"In the academic staff area, I think there is a real sense of disgruntlement, demoralisation and burnout."
Having finally come through the pandemic and the extra work it entailed, staff had now been told there would be redundancies.
"When you have all of these internal and external factors in the mix, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that there is a rising curve in terms of the percentage of staff who are leaving.
This would have more impact on general staff, but academic staff would be tempted to move to other universities or state sector jobs.
Most career academics who wanted to be moderately successful worked between 50 and 65 hours per week, he said.
"That’s not hugely appealing — what made it worth it was that academics were relatively highly paid and our jobs were secure.
"We’ve been losing ground in terms of our relative salaries because our pay rises haven’t been keeping up with inflation, and obliviously our employment security has taken a big hit due to government underfunding."
Cutting staff was a "short-sighted" response that would be very damaging to staff morale and exacerbate the university’s retention problem, Prof Roper said.
Another staff member, who did not want to be named, said turnover was related to lower salaries than those offered overseas or by the private sector, as well as declining work conditions and a sense of disconnect between senior leadership and staff.
"I imagine the recent announcements of job cuts will see the turnover increase even further due to uncertainty about job security and Otago’s national and international standing."
Another staff member, who also did not want to be named, expressed unhappiness with senior management and questioned why drastic cuts were necessary when staff turnover was already so high.
University human resources director Kevin Seales said turnover was generally on par with other comparable employers.
"The increase in turnover at Otago in 2021 and 2022 is not unique to Otago, reinforced by the fact 2022 has become globally known as the ‘year of the great resignation’," he said.
The figures also included the expiry of fixed-term roles, not just voluntary turnover.
Where there was no immediate need, staff who left might not be replaced.
However, in many cases they would need to be replaced in order for the university to function properly.
The university was facing potentially one of the most challenging periods in its history.
"We are aware that many of our staff are upset and concerned about the situation and we are offering support where we can and continuing to update them on our financial situation.
"I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank and acknowledge all of our staff on our all of campuses for their commitment and resilience."
