SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 18
SEAHO Feature Articles
Student Staff Evaluating and Rehiring:
Doing What's Best for On-Campus Students
By Andrew La Haie, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Having earned my bachelor's degree in Human Resource Management, I appreciate the opportunity to utilize my
degree in my current job as an entry-level Resident Director. Student staff selection, onboarding, retention, and
evaluation are critical components of a Housing organization's long-term success in providing excellent service
to on-campus students. All Housing organizations include these components of human resource management,
and new staff members must be well-equipped to facilitate these practices of the Housing department. These
standardized practices, particularly staff evaluation and retention, have a significant role in shaping the culture of
the Housing department. If Housing organizations want to live by doing what's best for its residential students,
then it is necessary that they implement retention (rehire) and evaluation (performance review) processes that
reward good performances but also hold accountable those who are average or subpar.
Non-graduating student staff members go through a rehire process to determine one of many things: their
eligibility for the position for next year, their placement for next year, and/or their goals for improvement in the
position. How an organization's rehire process is structured speaks to the philosophy your Housing organization
has adopted with returning staff members. Proper rehire meetings should consider performance reviews from
the previous year, or the evaluations can serve as the basis of rehiring student staff members. If a student staff
member is eligible for rehire, the meeting should be structured so that the staff member provides input on their
performance and the professional can determine the best placement for the student staff member. Additionally, goals should be determined by the student staff member, and those goals should serve as a framework for
self-improvement and motivate the staff member to increase their performance.
Rehiring staff members is dependent on standards set in place by a Housing organization. Some schools have a
two-year or three-year limit on student staff members, whereas others allow student staff members to maintain
their position through graduate school so long as their performance meets expectations. Other factors may align
with organization traditions or the philosophy of the organization's CHO, such as retaining all staff members
who do not have performance issues or allowing staff to return to the position but changing the residence hall
in which they work every one or two years. These practices and philosophies have major impacts on the culture
of student staff and how important or non-important rehire meetings are for student staff. Decisions are easy
for professional staff with high-achieving students, as well as those students who have disciplinary or academic
concerns prohibiting them from returning to the staff position next year. On the other hand, staff members who
are "meeting the bare expectations" or "just doing enough" must be treated through the rehire process as fairly
as everyone else, and that means that the option for them to not return to the staff position must be available for
professional staff.
For professional staff to be entrusted with this responsibility, they should be trained on how to effectively evaluate staff members based on their yearly performance and maintain consistent expectations with disciplining
staff members. Too often are new professionals entrusted with staff evaluation and performance reviews when
they aren't trained on how to holistically evaluate a staff member based on their yearly work. Evaluating staff
members for their work over an academic year requires intentionality and ought to include some of the following
items: observations made in group settings (staff meetings, in-services, trainings), performance conversations
taken place during 1:1 meetings with student staff, peer-to-peer feedback, resident feedback, and information
shared through student staff self-evaluations. Additionally, rehire processes must be void of personal feelings and
SEAHO Report Spring 2018
18
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Spring 2018
Contents
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - Cover1
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - Contents
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 3
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 4
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 5
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 6
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 7
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 8
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 9
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 10
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 11
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 12
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 13
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 14
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 15
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 16
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 17
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 18
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 19
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 20
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 21
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 22
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 23
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 24
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 25
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 26
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 27
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 28
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 29
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 30
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 31
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 32
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 33
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 34
SEAHO Report - Spring 2018 - 35
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2023winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2022winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2021winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020holiday
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2020winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2019winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2014spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2014winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/50thanniversary
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2013winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2012fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2012summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/2012winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/seaho/spring2011
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com