CHE: Volunteers at Dining Halls?

[simpleSimon]

Last year Michigan State University asked faculty and staff to volunteer in the dining halls.  This year the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee is asking for volunteers to work in the dining halls.  On both campuses low wage faculy, staff, and students are understandably offended by this request.  Why is this happening and why would any school expect people to volunteer to do this work?

Most people I know are struggling to make ends meet in the current climate, and I cannot think of a single creditor or business that accepts volunteer credits to pay a bill—including the university—so why would they ask or expect people to volunteer their time in this way?  Does anyone else see the problem here?  The solution is obvious: pay more money and you will have no problem filling vacant positions in the dining halls.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-university-asked-for-faculty-and-staff-volunteers-at-dining-halls-the-union-said-no?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in

[Hegemony]

This is being discussed down at "Colleges in Dire Financial Straits."

[simpleSimon]

This is being discussed down at "Colleges in Dire Financial Straits."

Interesting. I would not have thought to look for it there. If your school has a 3.4 billion dollar endowment and you can afford to pay your football coach $5 million a year that is not my idea of dire financial straits.  I appear to be out of step with the conventional wisdom.

Has anyone here done this kind of volunteer work at a school?  Would you if asked?

[Hegemony]

It was a pretty substantial discussion, so here it is so we don't repeat the same old things -- go on over and take a look --  http://thefora.org/index.php?topic=22.2865

[newprofwife]

I read the article and the staff were told that they if they volunteered, they couldn't use this time as comp time. That's disgusting that staff would be asked to work for free and not get "comp time". That's total exploitation and why low paid staff in higher education are no longer willing to do this.  In other words, you would still need to put in your 8-9 hours of work plus volunteer time.

I've always been a hard worker. Without providing too many details to give my identity away, I will just state, that I have volunteered to work a night shift once during a natural disaster (this was actually a job outside of higher education). It was a natural disaster and it was all hands on deck and we did what we needed to do to protect lives to protect the people under our care. Perhaps, this institution thought that due to the pandemic, some staff might answer the frantic call for duty/service but it sounds like they had other options.       

Where I work, if I volunteer for events on the weekends or nights, I get comp time which makes it easier for work/life balance. In the past, I have volunteered for some events like campus clean-up, but we got comp time and free meals so it was a nice volunteer experience.

If I work weekend events, it's so great that our department allows comp time so we don't get burnt out working 6 days in a row or working very long hours (which is the last thing anyone needs as we recover from burnout during this pandemic)! It was much easier when I was younger in this field but putting in those crazy hours is brutal on the mind and body with all the passing years in higher education, especially with the ongoing pandemic situation.

According to the article, only a few staff even volunteered. If dining can't find enough student workers, perhaps they can pay higher wages or outsource and not expect staff to just work for free.     

[research_prof]

I read the article and the staff were told that they if they volunteered, they couldn't use this time as comp time. That's disgusting that staff would be asked to work for free and not get "comp time". That's total exploitation and why low paid staff in higher education are no longer willing to do this.  In other words, you would still need to put in your 8-9 hours of work plus volunteer time.

I've always been a hard worker. Without providing too many details to give my identity away, I will just state, that I have volunteered to work a night shift once during a natural disaster (this was actually a job outside of higher education). It was a natural disaster and it was all hands on deck and we did what we needed to do to protect lives to protect the people under our care. Perhaps, this institution thought that due to the pandemic, some staff might answer the frantic call for duty/service but it sounds like they had other options.       

Where I work, if I volunteer for events on the weekends or nights, I get comp time which makes it easier for work/life balance. In the past, I have volunteered for some events like campus clean-up, but we got comp time and free meals so it was a nice volunteer experience.

If I work weekend events, it's so great that our department allows comp time so we don't get burnt out working 6 days in a row or working very long hours (which is the last thing anyone needs as we recover from burnout during this pandemic)! It was much easier when I was younger in this field but putting in those crazy hours is brutal on the mind and body with all the passing years in higher education, especially with the ongoing pandemic situation.

According to the article, only a few staff even volunteered. If dining can't find enough student workers, perhaps they can pay higher wages or outsource and not expect staff to just work for free.   

Welcome to higher education my friend. My College was trying so hard to exploit my time during summer, which btw was paid through grants and is a direct compliance violation of federal funding guidelines.

[mamselle]

It was a pretty substantial discussion, so here it is so we don't repeat the same old things -- go on over and take a look --  http://thefora.org/index.php?topic=22.2865

Seconded.

M.

[simpleSimon]

I read the article and the staff were told that they if they volunteered, they couldn't use this time as comp time. That's disgusting that staff would be asked to work for free and not get "comp time". That's total exploitation and why low paid staff in higher education are no longer willing to do this.  In other words, you would still need to put in your 8-9 hours of work plus volunteer time.

I've always been a hard worker. Without providing too many details to give my identity away, I will just state, that I have volunteered to work a night shift once during a natural disaster (this was actually a job outside of higher education). It was a natural disaster and it was all hands on deck and we did what we needed to do to protect lives to protect the people under our care. Perhaps, this institution thought that due to the pandemic, some staff might answer the frantic call for duty/service but it sounds like they had other options.       

Where I work, if I volunteer for events on the weekends or nights, I get comp time which makes it easier for work/life balance. In the past, I have volunteered for some events like campus clean-up, but we got comp time and free meals so it was a nice volunteer experience.

If I work weekend events, it's so great that our department allows comp time so we don't get burnt out working 6 days in a row or working very long hours (which is the last thing anyone needs as we recover from burnout during this pandemic)! It was much easier when I was younger in this field but putting in those crazy hours is brutal on the mind and body with all the passing years in higher education, especially with the ongoing pandemic situation.

According to the article, only a few staff even volunteered. If dining can't find enough student workers, perhaps they can pay higher wages or outsource and not expect staff to just work for free.   

Welcome to higher education my friend. My College was trying so hard to exploit my time during summer, which btw was paid through grants and is a direct compliance violation of federal funding guidelines.

Just say no.