Student Employment

Supervisor Expectations and Responsibilities

Students at UMKC not only learn in the courses they take, but also in the extra experiences they have during their time here. As a result, being a supervisor of student employees comes with added expectations to support the student learning experience. Creating a well-rounded student employee program is key to giving students the experience of having a position and comfort in knowing they are supported during their college learning experience. 

As a supervisor, you will handle giving students expectations within their role in your department. You will be responsible for holding the students accountable and for correcting students' behavior when expectations are not being met. As a result of the long-term relationship several students have with their supervisor, students often view their supervisors as mentors and ask for guidance in areas outside of the workplace. The supervisor can be a key figure in the student’s experience at UMKC and may even contribute to the retention of students for the university.  

Guidelines

As a supervisor, you want to be gracious enough that your student employees enjoy coming into work and engaging with others, but at the same time, keeping clear employment roles. That is why setting up boundaries early on in relationships with student employees is so important. Being too lenient, or generous, and not setting standards for student employees can encourage tardiness, unexcused absences, laziness, or a decline in their productivity or performance. However, being too strict and stern could cause your student employees to feel insecure and uninterested in their work. So where is the line between being personal and professional drawn? 

This question is often difficult to answer, but overall, it’s important to remember that as an employee, you must set proper boundaries with students and conduct yourself in a professional manner. While relationships, as defined by the consensual amorous relationships policy are prohibited (see HR-519), it’s also encouraged that employees avoid several other behaviors. 

  • Fostering, encouraging, or taking part in inappropriate emotionally or socially intimate relationships with students in which the relationship is outside the bounds of the reasonable, school employee student relationship and in which the relationship could reasonably cause a student to view the school employee as more than a teacher, service personnel, coach administrator or advisor. 
  • Initiating or continuing communications with students for reasons unrelated to any proper purpose, including oral or written communication; telephone calls; electronic communication such as texting, instant messaging, email, chat rooms, Facebook, or other social networking sites; webcams; or photographs. Electronic and online communications with students, including those through personal accounts, should be professional in content and tone. 

Types of Student Employees

Work study 

Many UMKC students receive financial work study every year. The Financial Work Study (FWS) program is funded through Federal Title IV resources and subject to Department of Education federal regulations and employment laws on the federal, state and local levels. The program is administered by the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office (FASO). UMKC is allocated funding each year by the Department of Education and must match 25% of the funded amount. Funding is limited and varies from year to year. 

The program's intent is to supply jobs for undergraduate and graduate students who have financial need as decided by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It allows a student to earn money to help pay education expenses. The program encourages students to find work related to their course of study and provides community service work. 

Non-work study student employees 

Departments also have the option to hire students who do not receive federal work-study awards. These positions are not capped by any overall allocation in comparison to work-study student employees. However, these students are paid and funded directly by the department. 

Recruitment and Onboarding

 When the department is ready to fill an open student position, supervisors must post descriptions of their distributed Work-Study positions via the Financial Aid Work-Study Management System. This program allows supervisors to post descriptions of an available position, manage the hiring process and monitor student earnings. Supervisors must contact the Work-Study Coordinator in the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office to receive access to the site and instructions for use. If the position is a non Work-Study position, supervisors will use Handshake to post the open position. 

Students will use Handshake on Career Services to look for a student job. However, Handshake is not set up as a recruiting tool. We do not encourage departments to search for recruits on this site. 

Student Employee Guidelines

Student employees are responsible to their department supervisor and must abide by all departmental regulations about work assignments. Student employees must keep complete confidentiality concerning information related to their job and the office in which they work and satisfactorily perform whatever duties are assigned. Remember that although this is a part-time job, the expectations are the same as a full-time job and students will be held accountable to university guidelines and applicable policies. 

Workplace Accommodations

The university is committed to providing equal opportunity to all qualified applicants and employees. To that end, UMKC will provide reasonable accommodations for the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job, employment practice or the work environment that makes it possible for a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy an equal employment opportunity. 
If you would like to request ADA accommodation, please complete the following form and send it to KC Atchinson, ADA coordinator. 

Recognizing a request 

As a supervisor, you should watch for an employee making a link between the workplace and a disability or medical issue.

  • An employee says he/she has been late for work because of their medical appointments
  • During a one-on-one meeting, an employee states that chronic back problems are preventing them from meeting deadlines
  • You receive a doctor’s note showing that your employee needs to take lunch at 11:30am every day

These are all indications that accommodation needs to be discussed for the employee. Accommodation will be made by a department if it can be done without creating undue hardships. 

Making a referral 

Once a supervisor finds the employees need accommodation, please complete an ADA Accommodation Request form and send it to the Affirmative Action Office. The ADA Coordinator will review the requests and work with the employees to see what accommodation can be provided. This process often involves the supervisor, but only if the employee gives permission for the accommodation request to be shared with the supervisor. 

The Affirmative Action Office will work to supply reasonable accommodation where able and if it does not impose undue hardship on the department.