Student Worker Employment: Employment for the Workplace

Abstract

Campus employment has traditionally been viewed as a means for students to generate financial resources to help meet college expenses and to allow institutions to supplement their workforce with a relatively inexpensive labor supply. However, over the past fifty years, the student work environment has increasingly been viewed as offering an experience that can have clear educational merit and provide meaningful opportunities for student growth and development. This study examines the theories, policies, and practices that underscore this more recent claim. Additionally, the research is intended to determine if it has any application to revising the specific campus work program at Southwestern Illinois College. The work done in this study examined an extensive body of theory relating to this topic and it solicited and investigated numerous “best practices” at institutions who have well-established student work programs with student development and personal growth as their program’s objective. The literature and the campus work program models reviewed disclose that campus workplaces, when properly constructed and managed, can contribute to a student’s academic well being. Likewise, they can better prepare participants to enter future work environments and help in the development of their noncognitive skills. Recommendations for a revised student work program at Southwestern Illinois College were greatly influenced by the findings of this study. Revisions include new procedures and practices, improved training and orientation materials, and redefined goals and outcomes for both the program and the participants.