Latest Assessment Activity post

Today I posted the following on the Student Assistant blog:

During the Assessment Activity at the Student Assistant Orientation, it was suggested that we should allow students to work in longer shifts during the academic term. Although I can respect that longer shifts may be appealing to some, I do not feel that it is feasible for us to offer this option.  Here are a few reasons why:

*Many of you have indicated that you like the fact that we don’t hassle you or expect you to get coverage for your shift when you are ill, have an emergency situation, etc. We try to respect your need for time off when we can, but the bottom line is that we need to make sure we have enough staff in the building to maintain normal operations. This is sometimes challenging for a 2-3 hour shift, but each hour added to that shift makes it increasingly difficult to cover your duties when you are unexpectedly absent.  

*Perhaps one of the most common responses we received during the assessment activity was that you like that we are flexible enough in our scheduling to accommodate most of your schedule preferences. And let’s face it, some of your schedules are pretty crazy! Assigning your work schedules for the term is a complicated process, and our ability to honor most of your schedule requests is very directly related to the length of our work shifts. Allowing longer work shifts would make this process even more challenging, and we would lose some of the options that accommodate busy schedules.

*We are legally required to give any staff member who works 4 consecutive hours a 15 minute unpaid break. If we were to allow 4 hour (or longer) shifts, we would need to plan for coverage during break times. This would add one more factor to that complex scheduling matrix, and flexible scheduling would again be at risk.

Always feel free to share ideas for improvement!  We can’t always act on those ideas, but every suggestion will be heard and considered.