Supervisor Toolkit

IRS form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, must be completed by the student worker prior to working their first shift.

This page addresses issues pertinent only to supervisors and is not meant to be a comprehensive guide in and of itself. As a supervisor, the experiences you provide to your student employees may be far-reaching and impactful. You not only give them an opportunity to earn money, but you also teach them life lessons and transferable skills they may use in their personal or professional lives after they leave Winona State University.

The links provided under "Resources" provide information that you may wish to review and use as you hire and supervise student employees. Many of the questions you have throughout the year, or your student employees have, are covered in other places on this site.

To request a work email account for a student employee/graduate assistant or to request access to a Winona State shared mailbox or calendar, please submit the Student Worker Resources Request Form.  

  • Do not create and submit the form until you have received an email confirmation that your student employee has been officially hired in the student payroll system.
  • Requests will be routed to ITS for review and implementation and you will be contacted once your request is completed.
  • This email account and access to shared mailboxes/calendars will only be available to the student employee for the period of time the student's work authorization is active in student payroll.   
  • If you give a student employee access to a department/shared mailbox or calendar and the student has a lapse in employment (e.g., over the summer), the student will automatically regain access to those shared resources when s/he returns to work in the fall, and it will not be necessary for you to re-submit the request form.
  • However, if the student does not return to a position in your department, please notify Tech Support to remove that student's access to your department's resources.

If you have additional questions concerning available resources or requests, please contact Tech Support at TechSupport@winona.edu.

Work-study is funded by Federal and State allocations and is given to the university annually to provide funding for departments to hire students who qualify for this program. Over 90 departments on campus have historically received annual “base” work-study budget allocations. Supervisors are notified in late spring or early summer regarding work-study budget allocations for the following academic year. Work-study budgets are not part of your operating budget and do not appear anywhere within the Minnesota State accounting system.

Student help is funded by department operating budgets. The department should carefully consider student staffing needs within the department as well as the total operating budget prior to determining how much to allocate to student help.

Student employees are paid the minimum hourly rate as determined by WSU. Higher rates of pay may be given for positions that require a high level of responsibility or a specialized skill.

To pay an employee an hourly rate which is greater than the university minimum wage, you must indicate this higher rate on the student’s Work Authorization Request at the time of hire. The individual in charge of the budget will receive an email notification regarding the higher rate of pay and will be directed to contact the supervisor for further information.

If you wish to give a current student employee a raise, you may edit the pay rate on the student's work authorization request within the Student Employment application.

Note: Keep a record of the students who are on overpay in your department and their hourly rates of pay. When you complete subsequent Work Authorization Requests for these students, you must put the higher rate of pay on the form or it will be missed in student payroll.

The system office discourages campuses from paying students with lump sum payments. All student employees should be hired and paid on an hourly basis. This ensures that students are paid in an equitable manner for positions across the campus. Having said this, however, it is possible to request an exception. There are some types of positions where it would be unnecessarily difficult for a student to track and enter time worked for a project or particular role. If you wish to pay a student a lump sum payment, you must complete and submit a
Request for Lump Sum Position form for approval. Student payroll staff will consult with the Business Office to determine if the position can be compensated in this manner. You will be notified if it is authorized and, at that point, you will be able to proceed with hiring the student (see the Lump Sum section of the Supervisor Guide). Under no circumstances should a student be permitted to complete work of any kind prior to being hired by the University.