Does anyone require a minimum number of hours/days/shifts of availability for their part-time staff to retain employment? For example, if after a year of working X,Y, and Z shifts, they can now only work Z... do you part ways or keep them on for just Z shifts?
Hi Erin-
Our front-line team is made up of work-study students at the University of Michigan and we struggle with this question a lot as many of them can become over-committed and their class schedules change every 4 months. I would say that it really depends on the individual. We had a team member a few years back who had to go down to one day per week for a couple of semesters but they were great at retaining information and were more productive in one 4 hour shift than others who were working twice as much. We're really glad we kept her around because her schedule opened up the last year she was with us and we were able to have more time from a well trained, high achiever on the team instead of a trainee. I would say its quality and quantity that help us make those decisions which is a case by case decision. I would say if they are positive contribution and this is a temporary change then try to find a temporary solution and keep them around. If this change makes them a drag on the team and it's not going to change anytime, then here is an opportunity to part ways and let them know that to attract a good candidate you need to provide the hours that all three shifts provide. I hope that's helpful.
Good luck!
Christina
I would also add to Christina's note that we post our student position with a 10 hour per week expectation in the job description. We know that very few students will be able to give us that, but it tends to attract applicants who are interested in giving more of their time to a campus job. As a result, situations like the one Christina mentioned tend to be temporary (like one semester or a couple weeks that a student needs to reduce their availability) versus hiring students who generally have low availability across the board. We realllly focus on scheduling and availability in the job interview process so applicants know it's a big priority of ours.
We have an availability policy for our PT people that they must be available at least 2 full weekends each month and 3 weekday shifts (day or evening) per week for 3 weeks out of the month. This doesn't mean they will be scheduled that much just that they are available if we need them. We are not allow to add headcount even with our part time people so if they have a massive change in availability we cannot afford to keep them on. Most of the time we are able to work with the staff member to meet these requirements. Also since this is an availability policy rather than min hours we can work with the staff on a case by case basis. For example we have a couple students and leading up to finals they will give us the availability but ask that we only schedule them if we absolutely need them and we can usually work around that.
We require at least 16 hours of availability, including one weekend day. Depending on the event calendar, they may be scheduled below the 16 hour availability but we at least have a useful availability. Our staff is welcome to ask for time off here and there that may be under our requirements, but their general availability still meets our needs.
If they ever have to change their availability where it is below our guidelines, we are open for conversation. Say for that semester or for a month or two they have obligations to meet, we're ok making an exception for that time period with the understanding that they will open their availability to the minimum once it's done. If they really can't meet that, we are then we start discussions about parting ways.
Thanks for the responses everyone! I appreciate the input.