Resources for employers
As a Work Study supervisor you are making an offer of employment to a student on behalf of UBC and are responsible for ensuring the terms and conditions of the employment are consistent with the BC Employment Standards Act and the Work Study eligibility criteria.
Resources and forms
Hiring your Student(s)
Student hours
You can hire as many students as you deem appropriate to meet the needs of your job provided:
- No individual student exceeds 340 hours in the Summer Session or 312 hours in the Winter Session.
- The total combined student hours do not exceed the maximum amount approved for the job.
Should a student resign, you can rehire and use the remaining hours for your project.
For positions that have been approved for both summer and winter funding, students must be hired for the Summer Session (May 1 to August 31), then have their eligibility re-confirmed for Winter Session. If the student remains eligible for the Winter Session, they must be re-hired for September 1 to April 30.
Expectation of hours
It is important to discuss how many hours per week you can offer the student and to determine if there are any scheduling conflicts prior to making an offer of employment. Ask your student if they currently hold another position on campus as it may impede their ability to commit to the required hours for your position.
Hiring deadlines
In order to retain funding students must be hired in Workday by the deadlines below. Unfilled positions will have their funding reallocated to wait-listed applications.
Summer Session: April 30, 2025
Winter Session: September 13, 2025
Steps to Hire
Identify a student to hire
Select a suitable candidate either through a formal or informal selection process.
Student Authorization
As part of the hiring process, students must have their eligibility confirmed by the On-Campus WIL Coordinator via an authorization request. Hires will not be approved unless the student is authorized.
WORK STUDY JOB OFFER SAMPLE (docx)
Workday will auto-generate an offer letter for your student upon hiring. You will be able to edit this offer letter to suit the position you are hiring for. This is a sample offer letter that you can use.
Onboard through Workday
- Steps for hiring students in Workday
- Workday training is available for those hiring students. To enroll in this training, search “My UBC Workday Training” and select “Workday Student Appointments”. If you do not see this training, email isc.trainingsupport@ubc.ca to request access. There is a section specific to Work Study hiring.
All onboarding is now done directly through Workday, including tax forms and payroll direct deposit forms
Have the hiring initiator for your department (typically your Unit Assistant or Department Administrator) create the position and submit a Direct Hire BP for your student in Workday using the following job profiles. New positions will need to be created each term (May and September) with the appropriate job profiles. Please do not extend positions or reuse existing positions between terms. See the below profiles:
International undergraduate students:
- Student Hourly Work Learn UBCO (Summer Session) – May 1 to August 31
- Student Hourly Work Learn UBCO (Winter Session) – September 1 to April 30
Domestic students (undergraduate and graduate) and international graduate students:
- Student Hourly Work Study UBCO (Summer session) – May 1 to August 31
- Student Hourly Work Study UBCO (Winter session) – September 1 to April 30
Paying your Student(s)
As the hiring supervisor, it is important you approve your students’ hours to meet payment deadlines − employees will not be paid if this deadline is not met! Approve time sheets when the approval appears in your Workday inbox. Please ensure your employees adhere to this deadline. Approval is required bi-weekly. We recommend you talk to your employees to ask to submit their time weekly.
Students will be paid on the 15th and last day of each month. Hours must be submitted and approved by the 8th or 9th and 23rd or 24th of each month in order to meet payroll deadlines. Students should receive a reminder in Workday to submit hours.
Statutory holiday pay
If a student meets the requirements under the BC Employment Standards guidelines, they are eligible to receive statutory holiday pay.
Reimbursements
As the hiring manager, you are responsible for paying your students in full. Work Study will manually reimburse 80% of BC’s minimum wage for hours worked by your students. Reimbursements will be processed on a monthly basis for the hours reported on the previous month’s time tracking report. It is important to ensure all hours are submitted by payroll deadlines to ensure accurate reimbursement.
- In Workday, you will see this reimbursement reflected in the “Salaries | Student Work Learn Subsidy” ledger account in the ledger of the Worktag indicated on the Student Authorization form you submit for the student.
You will not be reimbursed for:
- Any hours beyond what your job proposal was approved for
- Any hours worked by a single student in excess of the student maximums outlined below
- 312 hours between September 1 to April 30
- 340 hours between May 1 to August 31
- Any hours worked outside of the dates the student is authorized for
- Any employment costs over minimum wage
It is up to departments to ensure they do not exceed the maximum number of funded hours. Should this happen, departments will need to cover the full wages for hours worked by the Work Study student employee.
Managing Your Work Study Hours
The Work Study hours approved for your job are yours to spend and are not attached to a student. You can divide them between as many student hires as you deem necessary to meet the needs of your job. If a student resigns you can hire another student in order to utilize the remaining hours. You will be able to terminate a student appointment and refill their position opening in Workday with a new hire.
Managing Your Work Study Student(s)
Once your Work Study student has been hired it is important they are on-boarded and provided with a proper workplace orientation. The resources below will help provide some guidelines and a starting point for developing a positive and successful working relationship with your student.
