How to Accommodate Student Workers

Subscribe to Email Updates

By Lisa Hutchinson

Topics: Hiring

Share

Text Size

- +

How_to_Accommodate_Student_Workers_Going_Back_to_SchoolFall has arrived, and with it comes a return to routine. If you hired students for summer help, you may be facing a number of vacant roles as these workers leave employment and are back to school.

Download our whitepaper to see how we solve our clients' evolving staffing  issues

Of course, some of your students may be available to stay on with you for fall and beyond. Many would enjoy the opportunity to work with you, even on a casual or part time basis. This can be a beneficial arrangement for both you and the students. They remain employed, while you get the help you need.

Even better, these student workers are already trained and ready to continue working. You don’t need to reinvest resources in hiring and training all over again. You may not be able to keep all of them, but you can certainly keep some of your student workers on the payroll.

You’ll need to ensure you’re adequately accommodating these workers, especially as they settle back into their school routines. Here are a few tips to help you better support student workers going back to school.


Adjust Schedules and Workloads

Did some of your student workers have full time workloads over the summer? They might have. Others may have worked part time.

As they transition back to school, however, students will likely need to reduce their hours in order to balance their workloads. School can be quite demanding. Students’ hours of availability may also change. Students who were available all day during the summer may only be available evenings or weekends now.

Talk to your student employees about their school schedules. Try to create a schedule that works around their classes and will work for them going forward.


Hire to Help Cover Extra Hours

You may still need to hire a few extra workers, especially if some of your students leave. With others reducing their hours, you may have to bring a few new people on board.

This will help you cover the student workers’ changed schedules. While your goal is to hire and train as few people as possible, be aware hiring will likely help both you and your student workers in the long run.


Talk about Sick Days and Shift Switching

You’ll want to address absenteeism with your student workers before it becomes an issue.

You should demonstrate understanding for your student workers’ school schedules. You should also reiterate your policies about sick days. If you allow employees to swap shifts, you should address the policy and protocol of this as well.

Encourage your student workers to communicate with you. While you can’t accommodate every request, you may be able to help if they have a big test or a paper they need to prepare. Knowing about these commitments helps you schedule your student workers more effectively.


Think about Switching Roles

You might also decide to move your student workers into new positions or change their roles within the business. This is especially true if the position they held with you required full time hours.

If you can find a position that coincides with the student’s area of study, even better. For example, if you have a student worker majoring in marketing, look to see if you can offer them a position in the marketing department.

You may even be able to participate in a co-op work program with the student’s school, which could increase cooperation between you, the student, and the school.

There are many ways to support students heading back to school this fall. Take some of these steps and you’ll realize the benefits. Need to hire more employees this fall? Liberty Staffing can help!

New Call-to-action

Lisa Hutchinson

I started with Liberty Staffing in 2004 as the Regional Business Manager of the London office. I have over 20 years of experience in the customer service and retail sectors, as well as leadership experience including Store Management, People Development and Recruiting. In 2016, our London location moved to a larger office in order to accommodate growth of our business, which included adding a Clerical Division.

Find Lisa Hutchinson on: