Skip to main content

Student Supervisor Toolkit

UW-Green Bay recognizes the impact that all supervisors have on the quality of work, level of productivity, and work attitude of the employees they lead. Supervisors contribute greatly towards the growth, loyalty, motivation, retention, team spirit, and development of employees within our institutional community. The below toolkit has been designed to support supervisors through all aspects of the employee career cycle and provide leadership development resources to further their own career growth.

The information on this page is intended for use by the supervisors of students.

The Office of Human Resources and Workforce Diversity is excited to partner with Career Services and Financial Aid to launch a Student Supervisor Training Series. This 4 - part series is designed to aid Student Supervisors in the full life-cycle of student employment. 

Recorded Training Sessions for Student Supervisors

LinkedIn Learning
All employees (including supervisors) have access to over 16,000 courses with LinkedIn Learning available on your schedule, anytime, anywhere. In addition to encouraging self-guided exploration of LinkedIn Learning, the following modules have been recommended by UW-Green Bay leadership to align with the University's strategic initiatives:

UW-Green Bay recognizes that employees are its most valuable asset, and that the people we hire will have a direct impact on students, faculty, staff, alumni, external customers, and neighboring communities. We want to encourage the learning and development of our students not only in the classroom but also through employment opportunities.
For help with recruiting and hiring talented, qualified students while ensuring fairness and equity, review the resources provided within the below links, and contact Human Resources with any questions:

Departmental onboarding for each new employee is crucial to the success of the employee, your department and the university. Giving a structured introduction to your organization will help new employees understand and adjust to the culture and expectations in the department. A well-designed onboarding experience goes beyond the initial introductions and the first few days. Continued support throughout the transition signals to the employee their value and importance to the university, aids in retention and results in stronger performance and contributions.

Student Onboarding Checklist

Supervisors can access information pertaining to the Manager Self Service dashboard, click here for instruction guides and videos.

Other Related Resources:

As a leader, your main role is to monitor the performance of each team member, acknowledge and celebrate their good performance while addressing any deviation from good behavior and performance.  The process has a few important components: 

  1. Clear expectations
  2. Fair and objective assessment
  3. Timely and effective feedback

speed limit sign

Imagine a world where highways have speed limit signs like the one shown here and only police officers knew what the speed limit was and they could change those limits at any time.  In a similar fashion, performance and behavior expectations should not be a mystery. They must be clearly shared with employees as soon as they start their assignments and any time they change.

Following our metaphor, in order to determine how fast motorists travel on the road, a police officer relies on a radar gun to establish any deviation from the speed limit expectation.  As a supervisor, you also need a reliable process to assess your team member’s performance.

Finally, just like you don’t receive a traffic violation notice one year after you committed the infraction, any deviation from good behavior or job performance is most effective when given soon after it takes place.

How to document your feedback:
While you may provide verbal feedback on a regular basis, please use this Performance Evaluation form to document your assessment at least once every semester.

In its broadest sense, Employee Relations is about creating a positive environment where employee and supervisor work together to create an engaging, productive and healthy work community.  From welcoming a new student employee to celebrating their graduation, we either contribute to positive or negative employee relations. 

When an employee’s performance and/or behavior deviate from expectations or appropriate workplace conduct, supervisors must provide guidance, coaching, and in some instances, disciplinary actions.  The purpose of any corrective action is to turn performance around and reestablish a positive and thriving employment experience.  A few best practices:

  • If the policy violation is severe, please contact Human Resources immediately
  • Document situations where student employee does not meet expectations
  • Meet with student employee  
    • Address lack of performance or policy violation
    • Remind them about the job responsibilities and expectations
    • Set a timeline for improving performance 
    • Issue a Corrective Action Form 
  • If performance does not improve, issue a second Corrective Action Form  
  • If performance does not improve, meet with the employee to consider termination
  • Complete Student Employment Change Request if termination takes place

Please complete Student Employment Change for terminations.

UW-Green Bay student employees work over 100,000 hours each year. As a student employee's supervisor, we encourage you to show appreciation for their work frequently all year long. Creativity is encouraged--and appreciated!

Ideas for Supervisors & Departments

Supervisors and departments are encouraged to recognize and celebrate the contributions of student employees. Here are a few ideas:

  • TreatWeek: Bring something different each day– cookies, popcorn, candy, etc.
  • Certificates: Buy low cost, blank certificates and make up silly awards for students: best telephone voice, best web-surfer, etc.
  • Notes Home: Send a note to the families of your student workers. Let them know what the student does, how their work impacts your department, and how terrific the student is for your department.
  • Friendship Plants: Take cuttings from a plant in the office and give to each student as a live "connection" to the office.
  • Good Egg Award: Buy plastic Easter Eggs, fill with goodies and give out with "Good Egg" certificates. List what the student did to deserve this award.
  • Bright Ideas: Spray paint a light bulb gold, screw into a jar of play-dough and make a label around the jar naming who is receiving the “Bright Idea” award.
  • Recognition Banner: Make a banner to hang in your office, or decorate an office bulletin board or door in recognition of your student employees.
  • "You Rock" Award: Print "You Rock" on a rock and present it to someone when they go a good job. Encourage the student to present it to another member of the staff when they observe someone doing a good job.
  • Picture Recognition: Take student pictures, post them and list what wonderful things they do.
  • Recognition Program: Start an award recognition program. Look around the office or at home for a white elephant item. Name the item for the award (Employee of the Month/Week, Great Idea Award, Gotcha Award - catch someone in the act of doing something good) and then make a presentation of it each week/month.