The society expects the higher education system to contribute to overall development, but this development depends on eligibility and the head of the higher education institution. Retaining this resource is critical to higher education mechanism. However, higher education institutions find it difficult to retain competent and qualified staff especially in private higher educational institutions. This study is about comparison of employee retention strategies of private higher educational institutions of two cities of Pakistan i-e Peshawar and Islamabad and investigated the relationship between the total rewards, employee empowerment and organizational culture of Pakistani higher education institutions and staff retention with moderating role of career development. Data is collected from faculty of different private universities in two cities in Islamabad and Peshawar, Pakistan. Analysis completed on smart partial least squares (PLS-SEM) and SPSS 21st edition. This technique is applied on the data of 405 employees of private higher educational institutions of two cities of Pakistan i-e Peshawar and Islamabad. The results indicate a strong and positive relationship and impact of the total reward, employee empowerment and organizational culture on retention of employees in both cities. This learning is very important for senior management at universities that face retention issues. The results can be provided to them Guidelines on general reward strategies and how to use them to retain talented staff. Supervisor:- Dr. Nadeem Ahmed Khan