GENEVIEVE PFISTER, Staff Writer—
Student employment has long been an important campus topic of discussion. Conversations about the current state have heated up in the past year over debate on wages, unionization and ethical practices in the workplace.
Now, as Denison welcomes a new Student Employment Coordinator, Nicole Horvath, sophomore and student employee Alice Tran, ‘24 shares her experience in the context of a wider ongoing discussion on campus.
Tran works in the mailroom, and shares her perspective on her job and what improvements to student employment she would like to see in the future.
Q: Overall, how satisfied have you been with your time working in the mailroom? Is it a good environment to work in?
A: Working in the mailroom has been part of my college life and it has been great so far. The people in the mailroom are super helpful and responsible and our supervisor, Amy, is so sweet.
Q: Do you feel you are paid fairly for your work? Do you feel you are overworked?
A: I don’t think our salary at this moment is compatible with the amount of work that we have, especially during moving weeks and 2 weeks before school starts. Those two weeks have been crazy and hectic and people worked overtime to get students’ stuff in and out on time.
Q: Do you feel recognized and appreciated by the administration for the work that you do, or do you feel like not much attention is paid to you?
I personally do not think the mailroom workload and worker’s effort have been recognised enough by the administration.
Q: What improvements would you like to see the office of student employment make to employment practices? Is there anything/any employment or payment process (timesheets, work study, etc.) you feel is confusing or could be done better/more fairly?
A: I would really want to have a better salary that truly reflects the time and effort I put in working in the mailroom. Furthermore, I want the orientation process to become better which means that 90% of students should and must know how to address their packages properly so that we can minimize the tired process of waiting.