BRITTANY YEAROUT
Perspectives Editor
Pepperdine student employees have a new pay system that awards students based on merit, rather than just grade.
This change comes as part of the new software program package called Peoplesoft Enterprise, which started at Pepperdine in August 2006. The university has already spent $12 million on this software, which is also lending opportunities to other projects.
Peoplesoft is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that can be divided into specific components, such as finance and human resources. Through Peoplesoft, a custom page, called the Student Hiring Module, was built to improve efficiency at the Student Employment office.
This new module afforded an opportunity to also change the pay system, which went live Aug. 1, according to Carla Anderson, the manager of student employment.
“The new student compensation system is the result of a great deal of benchmarking research of pay systems at other colleges and universities across the country,” Anderson said. “We believe this new system will better support our goals of students’ growth and development in their on-campus jobs.”
Last year, neither position nor qualification affected a student’s salary; rather, it was determined by the student’s year, which is based on credits. This year, however, pay increases are based on criteria established by each department and a student’s job performance. Depending on what criteria a student meets, the supervisor will put the student in any level from one to four that determines the amount a student will be paid.
This platform includes a pay raise across the board. At level 1 a student stands to make from $7.50 per hour to $8.75.
Senior Josh Damian has been working in the Communication Division for three years. This year, he received a 50 cent raise, increasing his salary to $8.75 per hour.
“I felt like they recognized that I am putting in my time here and I am doing really good, hard work for them,” Damian said. “It is something nice that the university could give back to us. We are working and trying to go to school so why not at least give us a little bit of a break.”
In addition to the new compensation system, each department now has a hiring manager who has been trained to use the Student Hiring Module. Through this module, a hiring manager can now look in one place online to see a student’s I-9 status, his or her work study award information, balance and any other jobs they have or have held on campus.
As soon as the hiring manager enters the job into the system, the student has access the next day to Kronos, an online time table. Last year, it could take up to two weeks to process a student’s information.
As of Wednesday, there were 1,121 students working on campus, but this number will approximately reach 1,500 once all students are hired and entered into the system.
“At Pepperdine we highly value our student employees,” Anderson said. “Their contributions make a big difference to our ability to operate our day to day business efficiently and effectively.”
There are more than 140 departments who hire students to work on campus, meaning there are plenty of opportunities. The Student Employment Office wants students to find jobs that they are interested in, fit their major and their school schedule.
Junior Mica Gil-casas works in the Intercultural Affairs office, promoting diversity on campus. She chose the job because of her major in international business.
“Contacting people, networking, doing diversity training will definitely help me with my resume to show experience,” Gil-casas said.
Besides improving a resume, other advantages of working on campus include: not needing transportation to work off campus, achieving a higher level of job skills, and building relationships with supervisors, faculty and other staff members.
“It obviously advantages students who work. They get real skills that they can take away after they leave the University,” said Bradley Dudley, director of the Career Center. “In the same way that they have close relationships with faculty advisors they will have close relationships with their supervisors, and it advantages them in their own skill level as well as having references.”
The Student Hiring Module and new pay scale are not the only new systems to come with Peoplesoft. Peoplesoft is like an umbrella, where underneath, finance, human resources and students are the three main areas that will impact Pepperdine. Other modules like the Student Hiring Module will be implemented and some will positively and directly affect students.
09-27-2007
