Supervisor Responsibilities

For many students, a college job is their first work experience. What seems obvious to you may not be so to your new student employee. We recommend the following for new employee orientation:

• Let other employees in the department know who the student is and when they will start work.
• Meet briefly with the student on their first day to:
  • review job responsibilities.
  • explain department layout.
  • outline basic office policies and procedures.
  • show the locations of fax, photocopier, restroom, etc.
  • introduce department staff.
• Create a “workplace guide” or other written resources about the department/college/unit. It should include:
  • a description of offices in your building.
  • general expectations for students, especially department-specific expectations.
  • dress code.
  • timesheet procedure.
  • commonly used phone numbers.
  • other important policies and procedures.
• Offer a group orientation or training session, if you have more than one student in the department.
• Review RISD’s emergency procedures with the student.

Here are a few tips for preparing to train a new student employee:

• Identify the best procedure(s) for performing the tasks you will hand off to them.
• Analyze their task: identify steps involved, key points, areas of difficulty.
• Define performance standards to which you will hold them accountable.
• Prepare the workplace for their arrival.

Ten steps of training:

1. Explain the task to the student, as well as its purpose and how it fits into the “big picture.”
2. Find out what the student already knows about the task.
3. Demonstrate the task step by step and identify performance standards for the task. (Sometimes a written procedure is can be helpful.)
4. Emphasize any key points.
5. Demonstrate the task a second time.
6. Ask the student questions about their understanding of the task.
7. Allow the student to practice the task.
8. Give frequent, specific and accurate feedback on the student’s performance of the task.
9. Have the student continue to practice until the task is done according to the standards you’ve communicated to the student.
10. Allow the student to do the task independently but encourage further questions. Check their procedure and results periodically, and less frequently as they proceed in the job.

Part of your role will be to provide on-job supervision, such as:

• ensuring adequate supervision of student work.
• keeping lines of communication between you and the employee open, clear and constructive.
• establishing student work schedules. In doing so, please ensure that your student employee(s):
  • do not work during scheduled class times.
  • take a half-hour (minimum) unpaid break if working for six or more continuous hours.

Treat students in accordance with their rights, which are the same as those of all RISD employees as defined by applicable state, federal and RISD regulations. You are required to provide a work space that is free from hazards and follow your department's student worker accident procedures if a student incurs an injury while working. 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of a student’s educational records.

Notice of student rights with respect to education records (FERPA)

Statement of FERPA understanding

Confidentiality agreement

If you are supervising a FWS student, you will need to monitor their award balances to make sure they keep within their allotted award. If you want to find out if a student has FWS and/or their award balance, email our office.

All student employees are expected to meet RISD’s work performance standards. Work performance encompasses many factors, including attendance, punctuality, personal conduct, job proficiency and general compliance with RISD’s policies and procedures. 

As supervisor, you have the initial responsibility to determine if you need to take corrective action. Ongoing communication and feedback should occur between you and your student employee throughout the year, including clear performance expectations. 

When performance or conduct falls short of these standards, we will make reasonable efforts to provide student employees with adequate notice of areas for improvement and assistance in achieving improvement. However, RISD reserves the right to take immediate appropriate action, without the provision of notice or assistance, when a student employee’s conduct, a policy violation or performance problem is of an extreme nature or if there are other overriding concerns. 

If you observe the student employee failing to meet conduct and/or performance expectations, you may issue a verbal warning.

Set a face-to-face meeting with your student employee to issue the warning. In this meeting, provide specific examples of how their performance does not meet standards, establish an improvement plan and offer any appropriate and available assistance. They should be informed that they are receiving a verbal warning and that failure to improve performance will lead to further action, up to and including termination.

Make sure to document the date of the verbal warning as well as the problem that you discussed.

Before issuing a written warning, please consult with our office.

A written warning should contain a reference to any previous verbal warning or discipline along with a description of the performance/conduct issue. It should inform the student employee of what they must do to improve their performance and notify them that failure to improve may lead to further action up to and including termination of employment. 

Both you and the student employee should sign the written warning as acknowledgement that it has been issued. Give one copy to the student employee. Another is to be saved in the student’s department file and another in their file with our office.

You must consult our office before taking action to suspend a student employee. 

If deemed appropriate, a student employee may be suspended as either a disciplinary sanction without pay, or suspended with or without pay pending investigation. Depending upon the investigation results, they may be reinstated without prejudice or may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. 

You must consult with us before issuing a final written warning. 

When performance issues continue or the performance/conduct is of a serious nature, you may issue a final written warning. If any further violations or performance issues occur after the final written warning, the student employee will be terminated. 

This warning should follow the same format described above for written warnings, including signatures by both you and the student employee to acknowledge that it has been issued. 

You must consult with us before terminating a student employee. 

Termination of employment may occur when a student employee fails to correct performance or conduct problems following a warning, or when the performance/conduct problem is of an extreme nature. 

Termination due to performance/conduct of an extreme nature may also result in referral to Student Conduct and Community Standards, the Student Life office, loss of financial assistance, and/or expulsion. 

Some actions by student employees may warrant immediate serious disciplinary action up to and including termination. The final decision of what conduct will result in such disciplinary action will be determined at RISD’s discretion based on the facts of each case. 

Actions that our institution considers serious in nature that may result in immediate serious disciplinary action or termination of student employment include, but are not limited to:

• assaulting, threatening, intimidating, harassing, or coercing coworkers, students, or others.
• harassment, sexual or otherwise, of staff, faculty, students, or visitors transporting or possessing weapons, firearms, or explosives on RISD property.
• fighting, provoking or instigating a fight, or engaging in dangerous “horseplay” that could result in injury to others or damage to property. 
• insubordination, willful refusal to perform assigned duties or to accept an assignment from an authorized supervisor, or any type of verbal or physical abuse of a supervisor.
• possessing, using, distributing, or manufacturing alcohol or illegal drugs during work hours.
• reporting to work or working under the influence of alcohol or non-prescribed drugs.
• stealing, destroying, or defacing college, co-workers’, or students’ property, or using such property without authorization.
• sleeping on the job.
• unauthorized absence from post or duty.
• knowingly supplying false time worked on a student employee timecard (timecard fraud).
• unauthorized possession, use, copying, or reading of RISD records, or disclosure of information contained in such records to unauthorized persons.
• use of vile, indecent, or abusive language.

Student employment at RISD is at will and at the mutual consent of the employer and the student employee.

Depending on the nature of the complaint, the department may need to contact Equity & Compliance or RISD’s Title IX Coordinator.

RISD affirms the right of either the employer or the student employee to terminate the student employment relationship at any time for any reasons that either deem appropriate.