UW Housing Services have seen a dramatic decline in student employment over the past few years — specifically in food service departments.
Asher Bernards, senior and Head Student Supervisor at Gordons Dining Hall, noticed the decline since his freshman year.
“With Gordon’s and the rest of dining, we definitely have seen lower numbers than we have in the past,” Bernards said. “I believe when I started my freshman year we had about 300 employees and we don’t have anywhere near that number now.”
Bernards believes that the economic climate has a lot to do with the lack of employees, not only in dining halls, but in the entirety of campus.
“There has been a steep decrease from where we were four or five years ago,” Bernards said. “I know that because of the 2008 financial crisis, we had a huge uptick in employment just because everybody needed to work. Since then, it’s been on a relatively steady decline, because people don’t have to work. They either have enough money to live comfortably here or they want to focus on their studies.”
Julia Matizik, freshman and employee at Four Lakes Market, has witnessed the effects of understaffing worsen over the course of the semester.
“It’s gotten worse, quite frankly, because they are so incredibly understaffed,” Matizik said. “The first shift that I worked in the kitchen, there were maybe 30 people helping close it down, and this last week there were six.“You take on a lot more work and a lot more responsibility without any official promotion or pay raise or accommodation.”
According to Matizik, the decrease in employees is due to the conditions of the job. She attributes the drop in numbers since the beginning of the year to a frustration with the general system.
The majority of students apply to work in the dining halls because they are told it will fit into their school schedule. According to Matizik, that was far from the case. Shifts were constantly rotating, making it far more stressful than students originally anticipated.
The requirements of 12 hours per week quickly escalated for Matizik, who now works more than 25 hours per week, as she is often asked to pick up extra shifts.
But Devashi Goshal, freshman and food prep employee at Union South, has also noticed a problem with understaffing in the union dining facilities, without being personally affected by increased hours.
“Personally, it’s not affecting me as much because I think my supervisor tries to take on most of the work,” Goshal said.
Bernards agreed that the supervisors have been working hard to maintain organization in the dining facilities.
“Our supervisors are probably the hardest working people that we’ve had in a while,” Bernards said. “I know that some of them have been putting in 20 plus hour weeks. I myself have been putting in 20 plus hour weeks just so that the building can continue operation at the highest level.”
Certain operations have not been able to withstand the strain of understaffing.
“In Union South, there’s a place called Harvest Grains and it’s been closed for a while.They’re so understaffed and they need at least five people just to man the station itself, but they haven’t had any people. They finally brought an outside company in,” Goshal said.
University Housing is currently offering a number of incentives to bring in student employees. They have implemented a meal plan voucher program and increased wages. Employees are also encouraged to recruit other students for the job.
