Employee retention is a critical component of an organization's broader talent management strategy and is vital to any organization's stability, growth, and profitability. However, retaining high-performing employees is a challenging task, especially for higher educational institutions, as high turnover intentions result in increased costs associated with induction and training new staff, loss of research outputs and subsequent organizational productivity, and decreased teaching quality. Private universities are essential for meeting the demand of tertiary education and for expanding this sector in Bangladesh. Yet, these institutions are often accused of high staff turnover which affects their educational quality and moral strength. This study aims to understand and identify the factors that influence employee retention in private universities in Bangladesh. Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory guided the literature review in identifying and synthesizing the diverse factors affecting employee retention in higher education institutions. To validate the thesis, eighty-two academic staff from ten private universities in Bangladesh were surveyed using a structured questionnaire with a Likert scale. Exploratory factor analysis categorizes diverse variables into four main groups. Although the hygiene factors (extrinsic reward and recognition) were found to be the most important, the study revealed that all the remaining three factors (perceived empowerment, work-life balance, and sense of belonging) serve as motivators for academic staff to stay committed to their institution. Thus, the study sheds light on areas where administrators of private universities can focus their efforts to reduce faculty member turnover.