UWM Struggles to Find Students for Low-Paying Campus Jobs

A line of customers overflows into the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Union hallway from the Grind Café, as four baristas froth milk and pull espresso in a hurry. A student employee and a manager stand together at the cash register, taking orders behind a plexiglass window. There’s a sign taped to it that reads, “New employee training, please be patient. Thank you.” The tip jar is empty on the counter.

Lauren Breunig, a barista who returned to the Grind after being laid off for six months, calls out, “Iced coffee with oat milk. Vanilla cappuccino.” She hands out the drinks, then rushes to add flavors to the new orders and wipe down the counter.

“I’m lucky because at least at the Union we have one of our supervisors always there and have another person pulled from another department to come and help,” Breunig says.

UWM’s Grind coffee shops employed 150 to 250 student workers pre-pandemic, but now they operate with only 40 to 45 students in multiple campus locations, according to Rachel Compton, food service assistant in UWM Restaurant Operations.

As the worker shortage drags on across the United States, UW-Milwaukee is faced with a student worker crisis unique to college campuses. The Grind is looking to fill as many as 60 more positions, but few students have applied.

UWM hires students in dozens of departments, offices and operations across campus. University Custodial Services, University Restaurant Operations, University Housing, Be on the Safe Side (B.O.S.S.) and individual schools and colleges are all in need of student workers.

Most student employees were laid off or terminated when UWM classes moved online in March 2020. They were left out of the UW System COVID-19 Leave policies, so students who depended on campus jobs went looking for off-campus work. Now, UWM is struggling to get those students back.

According to Jean Salzer, director of UWM’s Career Planning and Resource Center, the university tried to hire 1,800 to 3,000 workers when in-person classes returned this fall.

Salzer says part of the reason is low pay along with menial work, like cooking burgers or sitting at a desk answering the phone. Online learning also had an impact.  

“A lot of our student employees who might have followed through from year to year graduated or decided that they weren’t going to come back to physically on campus,” she says.

“This is a phenomenon that all employers are feeling, including UWM,” says Tim Danielson, UWM’s Vice Chancellor of Human Resources. “I think it’s more acute in an urban environment like Milwaukee because there’s so many employers around the city and just in general probably not enough employees to fill the vacancies that we have in this community right now.”

Students decide to stay or go

Emily Prochaska left her campus job at the Union Information Desk because she wanted better hourly wages, which she found at her new off-campus job at a doggy daycare. On campus, she made just above minimum wage and had to pay for parking while she worked.

“They validated our parking for morning and nighttime, when it’s really late and it’s dark in the winter, but once winter is over, they’re like, ‘you’re paying for parking,’” she says. “I was making $8 an hour and I paid like $7 or $8 to park there. That’s a whole hour of my time.”

Off campus, she makes $11 an hour.

“I also left my job because I wasn’t making enough money to be able to support myself and where I’m living, and also be paying a little bit for college,” she says. 

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Edwin Andrade is a custodial services supervisor at Sandburg Residence Hall. Sandburg is the largest residence hall on campus. It has four towers and is home to over 2,500 students each year. After Andrade was promoted to supervisor, he waited a month for his pay raise.  

He has been training new employees while trying to complete his regular tasks and he’s working extra shifts — a common theme for UWM student worker employees right now.

“If we don’t have enough workers, then we have to pick up the shifts, and it takes time from us doing our homework assignments,” he says.

Breunig has also been training employees on top of her other duties at the Grind. She teaches co-workers how to make drinks while keeping up with the long lines. 

“One time, it was just one new girl on the register, and I was training her,” Breunig says. “And I had a line of drinks at the bar, like 14 deep, and I had people keep coming up and asking me when their drink was gonna be ready.”  

Long wait times on campus

Because of the worker shortage, lines on campus are long, food options are limited and food vendors have closed locations and cut their hours.

UWM student Chloe Anderson goes to the Union all the time to get food between classes. This semester, the long waits make her late to class.  

“If the line is super long, I won’t get in the line,” she says, “and certain restaurants that I want to go to aren’t open at all.”  

“If you don’t have the staff, you can’t really stay open, so it limits anyone on campus from being able to experience the Grind at certain times or in certain locations,” Compton says.  

“The primary implications are felt in things like food service, custodial services at the institution, our grounds crew, where we really depend upon a part of our workforce being student employees,” says Danielson. “Residence life is another one. We just don’t have as many workers as we’re used to having.”

Persuading students to come back

Salzer suggests that campus departments and offices trying to hire students make the jobs sound more appealing.

“So, okay, we’re gonna be flipping burgers, but what does that mean, and expressing in the position description how you can meet new people, how you can develop your customer service skills and your time management skills,” she says. “Make it interesting. Make it worthwhile.”

Danielson says that campus employers need to emphasize the benefits of working at UWM. According to the UWM Career Planning and Resource Center website, campus jobs offer flexible schedules, a supportive environment and an easier commute. They also provide students with the opportunity to build their resumes and make friends on the job.

Salzer and Danielson agree that UWM jobs must pay more to attract and retain student workers. According to the UWM Student Employment Handbook, the maximum wage students can make is $14.50 an hour, though few student jobs pay that much.

“Because of the increased pay that so many organizations are paying for part-time help across the city, I think we need to be realistic and say ‘okay, we’re only going to be able to hire half the people that we need but we’ll pay them better to kind of make up for that,’ because it’s just not realistic to think someone’s going to take an $8.25 an hour job,” Salzer says.

In December, Chad Boppel, interim director of UWM Retail Services and Restaurant Operations, announced that student employees will get a raise.

“This is based on a market adjustment to the starting wage for your position and to reward all current student employees that have seen us through these trying times,” Boppel wrote in a notice to the student employees.

Compton says that the Grind, along with other University Restaurant Operations units including The Atrium, Union Station and Burger King, are still hiring. Handshake, a student job website, still has 40 postings as of December.

Back at the Grind, Breunig calls out another drink order: “Almond milk Honey Nut Cheerio latte! Have a nice day.” She dances around the small workspace, rinsing dishes, adding flavors, calling orders, cleaning up, repeat. Six students are in line to order and five are waiting for their drinks. “Iced coffee with oat milk!” she yells out. She hands the drink to a student, who doesn’t even glance at the “Restaurant Operations—Student Hiring!” sign taped to the counter as they walk away.