Student Employment

Types of student employees

Hourly student employees

Units may hire student hourly employees into positions directly related to their major field of study to provide a training opportunity or into jobs that provide for individual growth and development. Student hourly positions are open to all students meeting enrollment and eligibility requirements.

Work Study

Work Study is for eligible student employees who demonstrate financial need and will be receiving financial aid. It is important to note that the student will need to apply for Work Study. For more information, please reference the Employer’s Guide to Work Study.

Academic Student Employees (ASE)

Academic Student Employees (ASE) are part of a bargaining contract, AFL-CIO Local Union 4121. ASEs include undergrad/grad, and hourly/salaried student tutors, teaching assistants and research assistants. More about ASEs, including how to determine whether a positions falls into a contract-covered classification.

Stipend

Stipend appointments are training opportunities that primarily benefit the student. Learn more about the specific criteria required for a stipend.

Writing the job description

Having a well-written job description that sets clear expectations before a student is even hired will make both performance management and the student's onboarding experience much easier. Make sure you have an up-to-date job description. You can also reach out to UWT HR for support when writing the job description.

In order to hire a Work Study student, the hiring manager will need to complete the Job Description Form for the Work Study office to approve the position. It is best practice to start the Work Study application at least one week prior to the start date.

Job posting and recruitment

The most effective place to advertise student employee positions is Handshake, a job search platform made specifically for university students and recent alumni where hundreds of thousands of employers and students and recent grads can connect.

Once posted, you can use various advertising resources around campus to market the opportunity. It's also good to connect with colleagues across campus who can spread the word in their unit.

Eligibility for student employment

It is the responsibility of the employing department to confirm an individual's eligibility for a position as a student hourly employee by verifying enrollment. Student employees are responsible for notifying their manager if they no longer meet minimum enrollment requirements. 

Hourly Student Employees

• Undergraduate students must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credits
• Graduate students must be enrolled for a minimum of 5 credits
• Ph.D. candidates must be enrolled in at least 2 credits

Academic Student Employees (ASE)

Hourly ASE credit requirement:

• Undergraduate ASEs in an hourly profile must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credits
• Graduate ASEs in an hourly profile must be enrolled for a minimum of 5 credits

Salary ASE credit requirement: 

Salaried Graduate student employees in an ASE job profile must be enrolled in at least 10 credits during the regular academic year or 2 credits in the Summer Quarter. Graduate ASEs can only be hourly during Summer Quarter if they are not enrolled in any credits.

Making the hire

Once a candidate is selected and employment eligibility is confirmed, supervisors should determine whether a Sexual Misconduct Declaration (SMD) and/or Background Check are required. Sexual misconduct disclosure policy applies to final applicants for staff employment and final candidates for graduate student employment who are in positions of authority over other students. This applies to all ASEs. SMDs must be completed before an offer is made.

Background checks are determined based on duties performed by the student employees. Please allow up to 2 weeks for background checks to complete.

Student Employment Form

Next, the hiring department should complete the Student Employment Form and send to UWT HR for Workday entry. It is important to note that this form should not be filled out by the student directly, though supervisors may need to ask for some of the information. This form can be completed while any pre-hire screenings are pending. Please allow up to 1 week for Workday approvals after the appointment is initiated.

Work Study

For Work Study positions, complete the Job Description Form and then the Work Study Hiring Form. Once the Work Study job number is received, email the information to UWT HR so appropriate adjustments can be made in Workday.

I-9 Work Authorization

I-9s are required to be completed within the first 3 days of a student’s employment. This is important for new appointments and re-hires. UWT HR relies on supervisors to ensure that student employees recognize the importance of completing this task in a timely manner to remain in compliance with federal regulations. 

If the I-9 isn’t completed by the 3rd day of employment, the student will need to stop working until the action is completed in Workday. This action is audited by central UW HR. 

If the I-9 is not completed within the 7th day of employment, the student employee may be terminated.

Please see the UWT I-9 Reference Guide.

Required Trainings for Student Employees

As a part of onboarding, all UW employees, including student employees, are required to take the following trainings. Supervisors should assign the first 4 hours of a student’s work schedule to include the required trainings.

• Violence prevention & response
• Husky Prevention & Response (Title IX)*
• Asbestos Awareness training
• Reporting Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect
• Hazing Prevention**

*Title IX has two different trainings: one for students and one for employees. Student employees are required to take both versions.
**Student employees should take the Student/College edition of the Hazing Prevention Training.

Once completed, student employees must provide proof of completion for each of the required trainings to their supervisors. This can be an emailed certificate or screenshot of the completion page. Supervisors should save the documentation within their unit according to departmental retention protocol. UW HR currently tracks completion for Title IX and Hazing Prevention.

If required trainings are not completed within 30 days from the start of UW employment, supervisors have the right to end a student’s appointment or decline further re-appointment after discussion with HR.

International Student Employees

Glacier Tax Compliance

Foreign National student employees will receive information from Glacier Tax Compliance. It is important that these documents are completed by the student and submitted to UW Payroll in a timely manner to avoid incorrect taxation on wages.

Work Hour Limit and Leave

Hourly student employees are limited to working 19.5 hours per week but may work more than 19.5 hours per week during school breaks or when considered on leave. If a student employee holds multiple student jobs, the 19.5 hour limit applies to the totality of all hours worked. 

Student hourly employees are considered on leave as follows:

• Undergraduates: For one quarter immediately following a quarter in which the student was enrolled in at least 6 credits, including summer quarter, unless the student has graduated
• Graduate and professional students: When the student has applied for and been granted on-leave status by the Dean of the Graduate School

Student employees may only use on-leave status once per academic year.

Time Approval Guidelines

Pay Periods are the 1st through 15th and the 16th through the last day of the month.

Hours must be approved prior to the payroll cutoff date for hourly student employees to receive payment. Supervisors are encouraged to plan ahead using the Payroll Approval Deadline Calendar.

It is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure that hours entered are accurate prior to approving a student employee timesheet in Workday.

It is best practice to ask student employees to record time in Workday every week, while keeping in mind pay period end dates when submitting hours.

For many students, their position at UWT may be one of their first jobs. Giving regular feedback is essential to ensuring students are clear about expectations and are set up for success to meet them.

Supervisors should have regular one-on-one meetings with student employee(s) to check in on progress, answer questions, set expectations, and deliver specific positive and constructive feedback. During these meetings, it is important to allow time for the student to provide input. Consider asking them what they expect from a supervisor and how they prefer to receive feedback (e.g., in the moment feedback, scheduled meetings, formal evaluation, etc.).

Corrective Action

It's best practice to document feedback around performance issues as much as possible, such as with an on-going living document shared with the student or email/Teams reminders. This helps promote transparency with the student and creates a readily available record of repeated behavior.

If you have provided feedback to a student employee more than once on a particular issue with no observable change, this may be a performance issue requiring corrective action. It is important to ensure that student employees are informed of any performance issues prior to beginning corrective action. In other words, student employees should not be surprised that corrective action is being taken.

Process Guidance

1. Meet with the student employee one-on-one to discuss your concerns:

• Explain what mistakes or other examples of not meeting expectations were made and when. Be specific and stay focused on the work.

• Identify the specific impacts of the mistake or performance issue to the work or other people. 

• Ask the student for their perspective on the situation. Why do they think this is a repeated behavior? What could be done to help?

• Remind the student of available resources, such as written instructions that were provided previously and where they can be found.

• Discuss what the correct expectation is and what success looks like. Ask the student for their thoughts on what they can do differently next time. 

• Ask the student what additional support they need from you in order to be successful.

• Set a date for a future meeting to check in and evaluate if improvements have been made or if further assistance is needed. 

• If this is not the first corrective action conversation or if the behavior is particularly egregious, inform the student employee of appropriate consequences, such as ending their appointment.

2. After the meeting, send an email to the student to follow up on the conversation and realign expectations in writing.   

3. Allow the student employee time to improve their work performance while continuing with regular one-on-one meetings.   

4. After some time (at least a few weeks) meet with the student employee again to discuss their performance. If further coaching is needed, repeat the previous steps to allow for another chance of improvement.   

5. If no improvement is being made, please contact UWT HR for further assistance prior to ending the student’s appointment early.

UWT HR is available to support supervisors and student employees and can assist with any questions or concerns along the way.

Graduation and Commencement are some of the most exciting and busiest times on campus. We recommend planning ahead for student employees that will be graduating, so their accomplishment and departmental support don't get lost in all the activity.

• Plan to celebrate graduating student employees. It's important to acknowledge their hard work and dedication not only to their degree but to your department. Consider asking the student(s) how they would like to be acknowledged, whether a team gathering or a one-on-one lunch outing. Additionally, having the department sign a card or create a digital card can be an easy and meaningful memento to express gratitude and well wishes.
• Plan to recruit and hire for the student position before vacated. If you plan to backfill the student position, it's good to start this process before the current student employee leaves the role. You can even involve the graduating student in updating the job description and the search process.

A student employee who is graduating cannot work after their last final during their final quarter.

Hiring a graduated student

If the department decides it is strategically beneficial to extend a graduated student's appointment, the role can be converted into a temporary/non-permanent staff position.

To help determine if this is an appropriate pathway, consider the following:

• Does the student employee want to continue working in a staff role?
• Does the work justify creating a staff role instead of recruiting another student employee?
• Does the department have the available funds?
• Classified non-permanent positions can only be active for 1-2 years.

Other considerations:

• Once the staff appointment is entered into Workday, it is difficult to change the start date. Be clear with HR whether the staff position will transition without a break in service from graduation date or a later date in the year.
• Creating and filling a temporary/non-permanent staff role takes longer than the student hiring process, so be sure to start well ahead of the intended start date.

To proceed, review the temporary hiring process and send the job description and hire request form to UWT HR for review.