Starting Your Job

Mandatory Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

All new employees are required to take a training course entitled Sexual Harassment Prevention as part of their employment at Valparaiso University. This training is available on-line and can be completed in about 30 minutes. In order to take the training, you must be registered on the University system and complete the training within 30 days of your hire date. You will be notified by your supervisor or via email when you have been registered in Course VU. You will also receive instructions on how to complete the on-line training.

Orienting yourself to your new job

Job entry for new or inexperienced workers may be a stressful situation. Any employee, but especially a student working for the first time, has a number of concerns. Anticipating job-entry anxiety, a competent supervisor will explain face-to-face:

1. The work of the department
2. The student’s specific duties
3. The work schedule–starting time, breaks, closing time
4. The supervisory structure, including introducing the student to other members of the staff
5. The procedures for operation and care of equipment
6. The work performance assessment procedure
7. The payroll procedure
8. Other policies related to employee rights and responsibilities, such as grievance procedures, confidentiality, etc. The student should have ample time to ask questions.

At this time, specific hours which the student will work should be agreed upon. The supervisor should explain that, while some flexibility is possible during certain times such as exam periods, these are the hours which the student is expected to work and that the student is assuming the responsibility to be there on time, ready to work.

If at all possible, students should be assigned specific responsibilities and a space in which to perform their duties. In view of the fact that students usually work only a few hours a day, that time should be used more effectively by making sure that work is available and students can begin as soon as they arrive each day.

Procedures for getting paid

The first time students works on campus, they are required to fill out W-4 and I-9 tax forms and complete direct deposit paperwork with the Office of Human Resources. These forms must be filled out before the student’s name can be added to the University payroll. After Human Resources receives a Student Hire Form, tax forms, and direct deposit forms, they will forward the paperwork to Payroll so a time card may be issued. No student will receive a time card until these forms have been completed.

Students are paid every two weeks, on the same days other University employees are paid. Their pay will be deposited directly into the checking or savings account they designated on their direct deposit form. You can access your advice on the web through DataVU, the procedure is as follows.

• Go to https://datavu.valpo.edu
• Click on “Employees”
• Click on “Log in”
• Enter your e-mail user name
• Enter your e-mail password
• Click on “Payroll Advice”
• Check the box next to the pay date you want to view
• Hit “enter” or scroll down to select “submit”

The Office of Financial Aid monitors only Federal Work-Study earnings. When students earn the full amount of their Federal Work Study award, they will be “switched” to V.U. Work Study. It is the department’s responsibility to monitor each student in terms of their total earnings, and the effect that those earnings will have on the department budget. Time cards will not be stopped unless the Office of Financial Aid is notified in writing.

Wages paid to “student employees” are subject to state and federal withholding taxes, but not Social Security.