University of Minnesota Duluth Library

Student Employee Supervisor Handbook

Table of Contents
Supervisor Responsibilities Mandatory Student Meetings
Job Postings Name Tags
Application Process Absences
Contacting Applicants Discipline
Interview Process Grievances
Paperwork for Hiring Evaluations
Returning Student Information Update References
Recordkeeping Termination
Budgets Supervisor Evaluations
Student Payroll Reports Student Employee Recognition
The Math of Work Study Reasonable Accommodation for Disability
The Math of Miscellaneous Employment Consensual Relationships
Consistent Work Study Earnings Harassment
Schedule Around Classes Dress Codes
Allowable Schedule per Day, per Week Ergonomics
Shift Differential Smoking
Student Pay for Emergency Closings Temperature Extremes
Time Sheets Injuries
New Employee Orientation Voting
Written Work Rules Religious Holidays
Training  

UMD Library Student Employee Handbook
UMD Student Employment Rules
UMD Supervisor
Handbook

 

Supervisor Responsibilities

Your role as supervisor of student employees who work in the UMD Library is extremely important. You provide the initial selection and training of student employees, and you provide the quality assurance monitoring necessary to help this organization meet the needs of the University, succeed in promoting a conducive learning environment, and maintain a safe and productive working atmosphere.

Your responsibilities as a supervisor are to:

We hope that this handbook, prepared by the Student Employment Advisory (SEA) Team in the Library, will help you in performing these activities.

If you have questions that are not answered by this handbook, contact Jane Bottoms, the UMD Library Student Employment Coordinator (465 Library, 726-6560). If Jane is unavailable, contact Liz Benson Johnson (465 Library, 726-6561). Do not, under any circumstances, contact the UMD Student Employment office or Financial Aid Office directly.

You may, however, use the Services Available to Assist Students to make use of other resources on and off campus. For example, if one of your student employees needed academic help, you could refer him or her to the Tutoring Center. Or, if a student employee in your work area needed counseling, you could refer the individual to UMD Health Services.

Job Postings

To post a student job opening, you must complete a UMD Library Student Job Posting form. A copy of the complete position description must be attached to the form and both must be forwarded to the work team Coordinator for approval and signature. The Coordinator will forward the form and position description to Administrative Office staff.

Administrative Office staff will submit an On-Campus Student Position Requisition to have the job posted on the UMD Human Resources/Student Employment Office Student Job Postings List. Administrative Office staff will inform the supervisor when the position has been posted. The supervisor should begin reviewing applications within two business days after the position is posted.

When you have completed the selection process, inform Administrative Office staff so a request can be sent to have the student position requisition removed from the student job postings list.

Application Process

Blank student employee applications are available to applicants in the Library Administrative Office, 465 Library.

The position descriptions of open student positions are available in the Administrative Office for applicants to review so they may indicate preferences for jobs they would like to interview for. Applicants receive an applicant information sheet that explains the Library's hiring process.

Completed applications are placed in an application review file in the Administrative Office. It is the responsibility of each supervisor to periodically check the application review file for new applications. Supervisors can make photocopies of the applications of students they would like to contact and interview, but the original application must be left in the application review file.

As applications are turned in, a Student Employee Application Review form is completed and attached to the application by Administrative Office staff. Supervisors mark this form as they review the applications, indicating if they will make a copy of the application and if they will be contacting the student. If a supervisor has indicated that he or she will be contacting a student, other supervisors are still free to make a copy of the application and contact the student.

When a selection decision has been made you must inform Administrative Office staff immediately. Administrative Office staff will then inform all other supervisors who made copies of the student's application that the student has already been selected for a position and request that they destroy their copy of the student's application.

Contacting Applicants

Before scheduling an interview, it is recommended that you first verify that the student is interested in your position. This can be done by phone or e-mail.

By phone, provide the following information to the applicant:

By e-mail or voice message, provide the information above but also:

Interview Process

Supervisors should use a standard set of appropriate and legal interview questions for all students being interviewed. You cannot ask questions which relate to age, race, national origin, color, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, number of children), sexual preference, religion, status regarding public assistance, disability (physical or mental), veteran status, worker's compensation claims, union membership, or arrest records. The Interviewing Guidelines from the Academic Personnel Manual is a good source of information on what questions cannot be asked of an applicant in an interview. Refer to the Sample Questions for Student Employee Interviews. Supervisors may not discriminate against an individual in regard to any of the above-mentioned criteria when making hiring decisions. Work team Coordinators should review appropriate interview questions with supervisors once a year.

Once a selection decision is made, supervisors should inform other students interviewed for the position that the position has been filled. All such notifications should be done by e-mail to the student's University of Minnesota e-mail account and the supervisor should keep a copy for their records. Refer to Sample Rejection Letter for Student Applicants.

Paperwork for Hiring

Students must complete employment documents before they begin working. For your information, employment documents include the following:

Not all students will be required to complete all of the employment documents. Administrative staff will determine which documents a student must complete and will assist the student in completing them. Supervisors should not advise or assist students on the completion of any employment documents. All necessary documents must be on file before a student may begin working. Administrative staff will inform supervisors when a student may begin working.

Returning Student Employee Information Update

At the beginning of each school year, returning students must complete paperwork to ensure that the Library has the most up-to-date information on the student's address, phone number, anticipated graduation date, etc., Administration staff will determine which documents a student must complete and will assist the student in completing them. All necessary documents must be on file before a student may begin working. Administration staff will inform supervisors when a student may begin working. Administration staff will forward a copy of the Student Employee Information Update form to the supervisor.

Recordkeeping

University policy discourages the duplication of efforts. As the Administrative office retains copies of all documents required for employment, disciplinary letters, performance reviews, timesheets, etc. it is not necessary for supervisors to do so. However, supervisors are encouraged to keep working notes they deem necessary to monitor and review a student's performance.

Budgets

Budgets for each department are set by the coordinators. Work area budgets are set by the coordinator.

Student Payroll Reports

Administrative Office staff provide reports of departmental expenditures and budget balances, work study earnings and award balances, and miscellaneous earnings to supervisors and coordinators. These reports are run on a pay period basis are usually available the day after time sheets for the pay period are turned in.

The Math of Work Study

A student's work study award determines the number of hours he or she can work.

How many work study students can I hire?
Since the Library only pays 25% of work study earnings, divide your student budget by .25.

Example: $5000 student budget/.25 = $20,000 in work study awards

Can I afford to hire this student?
Since the Library only pays 25% of work study earnings, multiply the student's award by .25.

Example: $2000 work study award X .25 = cost of $500.

How many hours can the student work per week?
Divide the work study award by the hourly rate, then divide by the number of weeks the student will work.

Example: $2500 work study award/$7.00 per hour = approximately 357 hours
357 hours / 33 weeks = approximately 10.75 hours per week

What is the balance of the student's work study award?
This information is included on the student payroll reports distributed by Administrative Office staff.

What student employment budget amount should I request?
Multiply the number of hours of student help you need during the budget period by the hourly rate. If you are seeking work study help, multiply this amount by .25.

The Math of Miscellaneous Employment

The Library pays 100% of miscellaneous earnings. Multiply the hourly rate by the number of hours you want the student to work.

Consistent Work Study Earnings

Work study students should be scheduled to work so that they earn their work study award evenly throughout the school year. According to the UMD Financial Aid and Student Employment Offices,

"Work-study award terms and eligible pay period dates are indicated on the student's worke-student referral form. Students with awards for fall and spring semesters are intended to be earned evenly over the course of the academic year; half of the award earned in fall semester; half earned in spring semester.

Students that did not earn half of their award during fall semester can make up the earnings during spring semester.

Exceptions can be made on a case by case basis if a student and their employer wish to use more than half of an academic year award during fall semester."

Exceptions to the above policy must be requested prior to the student's earning of more than half of the award and must be approved by the departmental coordinator and Library Administrative Office staff. Administrative Office staff will send a written request to the Financial Aid Office. If the request is approved by the Financial Aid Office, then the student can begin working increased hours.

It is important to note that if a student earns their entire award early and then withdraws from classes or has a change in their eligibility, the Library work team that the student works for would be required to pay the Financial Aid office for the amount of the award that was earned early.

Students sometimes have earnings greater than their work study award near the end of spring semester. In the event that this happens, Administrative Office staff will change the student's appointment to miscellaneous and the work team will be charged for 100% of their earnings.

Schedule Around Classes

Student class schedules take precedence over work schedules. Supervisors must schedule student work hours around class schedules. Supervisors cannot require that a student not take classes that will conflict with work schedules.

Allowable Schedule per Day, per Week

Students may not work more than 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. When classes are in session, work study students are limited to 20 hours per week.

Shift Differential

Students will be paid a shift differential of $.60 per hour if they work shifts which begin before or at 6:00 am or begin or end on or after 7:00 pm and are at least six hours in duration. Both miscellaneous and work study students qualify for shift differential. Work study shift differential earnings are charged against the student's work study award.

Student Pay for Emergency Closings

Miscellaneous students who are regularly scheduled to work when UMD is closed for a weather emergency must be paid for the hours they were scheduled to work. In accordance with federal regulations, work study students can only be paid for hours they actually work. Refer to UMD Emergency Closing Policies and Procedures for more information.

Time Sheets

Library Administrative Office staff provide time sheets in a blue timesheet folder for each supervisor for all student employees in their work area each pay period. Completed time sheets are due to Library Administration in this blue timesheet folder by 10:00 a.m. the Monday after the pay period ends. Time sheets should be signed in ink by both the student and the supervisor. If a student has not signed his or her time sheet, it should still be turned in to Library Administration. Supervisors must arrange for another staff member from their department to serve as a back-up to check their time sheets in the event that they are absent when time sheets are due.

The times students begin and leave work should be written clearly. If less than an hour is worked, 15 minutes should be indicated as .25, half an hour as .5, and 45 minutes as .75. If an unpaid lunch break is taken, the times the student left and returned to work must be indicated.

Separate timesheets must be requested if a student(s) will be working on a special project funded separately from their normal position(s).

Students are paid for time spent in training for their position.

Students are not paid to attend Library events such as parties unless the event falls within their normally scheduled work time and they have obtained permission from their supervisor in advance to attend during their scheduled work time.

If a miscellaneous student is injured while working and must leave before the end of the normally scheduled work shift, they must be paid for the entire shift; work study students may only be paid for the time they actually worked.

Before signing student time sheets, supervisors must verify that the hours listed on the time sheet match the times actually worked. Check each weekly total and the pay period total. Any change to the time sheet made by the supervisor should be initialed and a copy should be made to show to the student. If a student has worked hours that qualify for shift differential, a notation of "SD" should be made in the right margin next to the daily total. Record the pay period total in Box 1 of the Supervisor Verification section of the time sheet. The total number of shift differential hours worked during the pay period should be marked in the Hours to Pay Shift Differential box of the Supervisor Verification section of the time sheet.

Students are not allowed to make changes to a time sheet after the supervisor has signed it. If a change needs to be made to a time sheet, the supervisor must contact Library Administrative office staff.

New Employee Orientation

As an orientation to work in the Library the supervisor must:

Written Work Rules

Supervisors must know the rules in the UMD Library Student Employee Handbook , in the UMD Student Employment Rules, and in this manual.

Supervisors must have written work rules for the students they supervise. Some topics that could be covered in work rules include communicating schedule changes, personal calls and visitors, use of Library equipment, food and drink, confidentiality, dress codes, leaving work areas, headphones, etc.

Supervisors must review the UMD Library Student Employee Handbook and their written work rules with each student employee. Supervisors are responsible for obtaining the student's signature on the UMD Library Student Employment Agreement found in the back of the UMD Library Student Employee Handbook. This signature is an acknowledgment that the student has received and read the rules.

Training

Supervisors are responsible for the training of student employees in their work areas. This often involves creating and updating procedural manuals specific to the work area and providing guides or point-of-use instruction sheets at work locations. The Library owns training resources that you may find helpful. Refer to UMD Library Training Resources.

Students are paid for time spent in training for their position.

Mandatory Student Meetings

Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that students in their area are aware of and attend mandatory student meetings that may be scheduled by Library Administration. Students are paid for the time spent in the meetings.

Name Tags

All Library student employees must wear a name tag while on duty. The name tag should be clearly visible at all times. This will identify the student as a Library employee to patrons and staff. Name tags should be stored in a secure location in the work area when a student is not working. Name tags must be turned in to the Administrative Office when a student is no longer employed. Students indicate on their application for employment their preferred name for their name tag. Students may opt not to have their name on their name tag. Students may not have a nickname or other inappropriate descriptor on their name tag.

Absences

Three unexcused absences are grounds for dismissal.

If a student communicates that they need a prolonged absence, the supervisor is responsible for regularly monitoring the situation to determine if the student will indeed be returning to work or if their position should be terminated.

Discipline

Disciplinary action is taken to correct unacceptable behavior, prevent future occurrences of misconduct, and maintain order within the department. Supervisors may discipline student employees if a rule related to efficiency, order, or operations has been violated. The rule must apply to all students employed within the unit. The student must have been forewarned that this action could be cause for discipline. The supervisor must obtain all the facts and listen to the student's explanation of the misconduct. All verbal disciplinary actions must be documented. All written disciplinary actions must be documented, dated, signed, and sent to the Library Administrative Office for placement in the student's personnel file. Customary disciplinary steps include (1) verbal warning, (2) written warning, (3) termination letter. Depending upon the severity of the misconduct, steps 1 and 2 need not be taken.

For more information on discipline, Refer to UMD Student Employment Rules, Rules 9 and 10.

Grievances

Students have the right to file grievances. Refer to UMD Student Employment Rules, Rule 11.

Evaluations

As part of new employee orientation, the supervisor will give each student employee a copy of the Student Employee Performance Evaluation.

Timing of evaluations

Cover page and signatures
If you need information such as the class title and number, or the student's date of hire, contact Library Administrative Office staff.

Primary duties and responsibilities
This section should include a detailed description of the tasks performed as well as the percentage of time spent on each task.

Performance standards
These are similar to the standards that are used to evaluate Library staff.

Rating key
The ratings are similar to those used to evaluate Library staff.

A definition is provided for each rating in the key. You must pay attention to these definitions when deciding what rating to give a student. For any rating other than Competent, you must include comments that justify the rating in Part III Observations.

Unsatisfactory. You must include comments that explain how the student is not meeting work area expectations and suggest how the student can improve their performance.

Fair. You must included comments that explain how the student is not meeting work area expectations and suggest how the student can improve their performance.

Competent. Most students will fall into the competent category.

Commendable. You must include comments that explain how the student goes beyond what is expected in the position.

Exceptional. You must include comments that explain how the student exceeds position requirements and takes on additional tasks rarely seen in the position.

Performance rating
If you use the performance evaluation form available from the Library staff page, it will perform all of the calculations. Otherwise, you must be sure to calculate the rating correctly.

For each job duty, add up the scores given to each performance standard. Divide this number by 6 (the number of performance standards) to get the average rating. Multiply this number by the percentage of time spent on the job duty.

Total the percent time and average rating products for all of the primary duties. Divide this total by 100 to get the overal evaluation rating.

Observations
Although Observations are listed as optional on the form, they are required for the Library's student performance evaluations.

Review session
Once the supervisor has completed the evaluation an appointment should be made with the student to review the evaluation. The evaluation form is signed by the supervisor and the student at the end of this review session. After the evaluation form is signed by the student and the supervisor, it is sent to the department coordinator for his or her signature. When all signatures have been obtained, the evaluation form is sent to the Library Administrative Office. Copies of evaluations are kept in the student's UMD Library personnel file.

Student employees have the right to review any and all performance evaluations and any other materials relating to job performance placed in their personnel files.

References

If a student wants to use a UMD Library supervisor as a reference, the Student Authorization for Reference Request form must be completed. This form is valid for up to one year. Supervisors should make a copy of the completed form for their files and send the original to the Library Administrative Office.

Termination

Shortly before a student's employment in the Library will be completed, the supervisor should inform the student that they need to report to the Library Administration Office to complete termination paperwork for the forwarding of their last paycheck(s), forwarding of their W2 tax report, and giving permission for Library staff to serve as a reference for them. The supervisor should also inform Administration staff that a student will be terminating shortly before the end of the student's appointment. Administration staff will determine which termination documents a student must complete and will assist the student in completing them. Administration staff will forward copies of all Student Authorization for Reference Request forms to appropriate staff.

Supervisor Evaluations

The UMD Student Employment Rules states that a student employee "shall have the right to contribute to the performance evaluation of his/her supervisor." Students should contact the Student Employment office for instructions and forms.

Student Employee Recognition

Supervisors are expected to acknowledge the contributions and good performance of student employees. Beyond the day-to-day "thank you" for work well done, supervisors can show appreciation by helping to plan and implement parties that student employees are invited to. Examples include the Winter Holiday party in December and the end-of-the-school-year barbecue.

One week of the academic school year is designated as "Student Employee Appreciation Week." During this time, which occurs in April each year, supervisors are encouraged to display banners or personal letters of thanks to student employees in their work areas.

Supervisors also have the opportunity to nominate a "Student Employee of the Year" if they note a particularly excellent employee. Nomination forms are available from UMD Student Employment.

Reasonable Accommodation for Disability

Supervisors are required to provide "reasonable accommodations" to individuals with disabilities. However, supervisors do not need to provide accommodations that would impose an "undue hardship" on the operation of the work unit.

Consensual Relationships

Consenting sexual relationships between supervisors and employees are strongly discouraged. Refer to the Regents Policy on Sexual Harassment and Nepotism and Consensual Relationships.

Harassment

Harassment in any form is not tolerated at the UMD Library. Two documents from the Office of Equal Opportunity govern sexual harassment. Refer to the Policy Statement on Sexual Harassment and Procedures for Handling Complaints of Sexual Harassment. Advice and training are available from the UMD Office of Equal Opportunity.

Dress Codes

Work units may establish dress codes in regard to safety-related issues and to prevent uncomfortable work environments (e.g., forbidding flowing fringes when working on drill presses in Bindery Prep, or forbidding offensive slogans on tee shirts).

Ergonomics

Students must be trained in ergonomically correct methods of performing their work duties, and ergonomic furniture and accommodation should be made available. Training for staff and evaluation of workspace are available. Contact Library Administration.

Smoking

UMD Smoking Policy

Temperature Extremes

UMD Environmental Temperature Standard Policy

College Work Study employees are not paid for scheduled hours that are not worked if a work area is closed because of temperature. Students on the Miscellaneous payroll are paid for scheduled hours that are not worked because of a work area closing.

Injuries

Refer to the UMD Library Information on Work-Related Injuries and Worker's Compensation Procedures for information on proper handling of student employee injuries and links to the forms that must be completed.

If the injury is more than a "band-aid" injury, the student should go to UMD Health Services or Occupational Medicine at the Duluth Clinic to be examined by a physician immediately.

Each department in the Library has a first aid kit. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to make the student aware of the location and contents of the kit.

If a miscellaneous student is injured while working and must leave before the end of the normally scheduled work shift, they must be paid for the entire shift; work study students may only be paid for the time they actually worked.

Voting

The Civil Service rules state, "Upon request an employee shall be granted a leave of absence with pay for voting in any state-wide general or state-wide primary election, or in an election to fill a vacancy in the office of U.S. Senator or U. S. Representative during the morning of such election day."

Religious Holidays

Refer to the UMD policy on Absence for Religious Holidays