Student employment is fundamental at Florida A&M University. Numerous offices require the assistance of students all over campus.
In the title “student employee,” what comes first? Student.
Yet, it seems FAMU is unaware of the disparities student employees are facing this semester.
Students typically get jobs to help cover groceries, the cost of living, rent and their basics. Going weeks and even months without pay is detrimental for anyone who works, especially students.
Now, imagine a student working 7 weeks with no pay. This was the reality for 20-year-old junior psychology student Aniyah Sparks. She was hired for this academic year to work as a Student Success Mentor for the Rattlers RISE program under Housing.
Accepting the position in late June, Sparks sent in all needed paperwork and documents as soon as possible. Upon starting her role as a mentor in August when classes officially began, Sparks had heard nothing concerning her documents or the onboarding process since signing the offer letter.
“We still have work every week, but I’m just not getting paid,” Sparks said.
Sparks worked 7 weeks, nearly two months, with no pay. This significantly impacted her lifestyle, and Sparks turned to asking her family for money to compensate for the paychecks she was not receiving. Applying for this job, Sparks aimed to use this as extra money to pay for any expense that may come up. As a student financing her way through college, she found it extremely difficult to stay afloat.
“It’s put a strain on me. It’s been really difficult to make this [job] a priority when clearly my pay and time is not being put as a priority,” Sparks said.
Calling the onboarding process “iffy” due to a lack of communication on the administrative end and having to call and find out details pertaining to her application and onboarding, Sparks was left unheard. Issues with onboarding students for payroll seem to be a common theme at FAMU. Both Janelle Sears and Nadia Gordon have experienced a lack of communication and no pay.
Sears, a 20-year-old junior broadcast journalism student, was hired to work in the Office of Communications during the 2022-2023 academic year under work-study. But after completing her contract, the waiting game started.
“I didn’t hear back from anyone for virtually the whole fall semester; the week before we had to leave for winter break is when I was informed that I could start working,” Sears said. “I never received a work-study check until March.”
Sears applied for this job and signed her contract, expecting to start working in the fall. Only to go the whole semester without communication on when she’d begin.
Students apply for these jobs to maintain a living, and to not hear back for such an extended period of time felt unfair, she said.
Gordon, a Florida native and broadcast journalism student, currently works two jobs and her role on campus is a marketing intern for the Career and Professional Development Center. Claiming that if she had not taken the initiative to go to the office herself, she believes her pay would’ve been delayed to the end of November. Students should be notified every step of the way regarding the status of their onboarding process and paperwork, she said.
“I was not made aware of the delays until I went to the HR department and spoke with them myself,” Gordon said. “I feel like communication could have been a lot better which could have led to me getting paid faster.”
Where is the lack of communication happening? Why must students ask multiple times about the status of their onboarding paperwork, or where they stand, to start working officially? And how will FAMU address this issue?
Attempts to get a comment from the Office of Human Resources were unsuccessful.
As for housing, there have been issues with student payroll before. Jennifer Wilder, the director of University Housing, says that usually, due to contract submission, timeliness affects the start date for students.
“The majority of the issues are because students take a long time to follow up on the missing information requested so their paperwork can be processed,” Wilder said.
There is a checklist of items that each applicant has to complete. Wilder said housing aims to schedule their paperwork to be processed by HR at least three to four weeks in advance. Because no one is supposed to start work before HR approves paperwork, this begs the question: Why are students sometimes working outside of their contract when they have not been given an official start date?
The hiring packet consists of scanned documents that are sent to students in an email, and students are to fill out the documents and send them back. To aid in the process of receiving paperwork on time, a great solution would be to have a program where the documents can be completed that also shows in real time where a packet stands in the onboarding process.
Wilder says the majority of issues are student-based because of a lack of timely responses for requested information and that there are follow-ups with students regarding missing information.
To streamline the onboarding process, students must ensure their hiring packets are completed and signed where necessary and verify that copies of driver’s licenses and Social Security cards are legible.
“The ideal experience is for the employment packets to be completed and submitted in a timely manner so everyone can start work on the scheduled start date,” Wilder said. “We consistently review our procedure to identify areas of improvement to be completed and make changes based on feedback we have received on the areas under our control.”
Both Human Resources and student employees need to work together to guarantee a straightforward and easy onboarding procedure. Yet, there needs to be communication on both ends if the experiences students are having where they are not being paid or starting a semester late can be resolved. Students apply for these jobs as a means of surviving, and these complications have made it a lot more difficult to enjoy their HBCU experience at Florida A&M University.