The campus-wide student employee shortage has led the CoHo to decrease operating hours
Due to an ongoing shortage of student workers on campus, the CoHo announced that they will be closed on Fridays for the time being.
“The decision to close the operation on Fridays wasn’t an easy one, but in discussions with the Coffee House management team and student leaders, it was clear that with our current staffing challenges a 5-day operating schedule was not sustainable,” the official announcement stated.
The CoHo is actively looking for more employees to join their team.
“We have been supported by ASUCD Marketing in primarily reaching out on our social media channels and on site with signage,” Darin Schluep, the food services director of Associated Students Dining Services, said via email.
In addition, Schluep mentioned the CoHo’s presence at Aggie Job Fairs and the work of the communications team to advertise vacancies.
“We have approximately 50 new employees currently in the onboarding process, and we continue to collect applications on the ASUCD Jobs website,” Schluep said.
According to the announcement, the reduction in service days will ideally be temporary as more student employees are hired. With staff shortages, the management team at the CoHo has put in effort to address the “workload, morale and mental health” of their student employees.
“We have discussed a variety of employee morale-boosters that we’re hoping to start next week, including an employee-only coffee station, a ‘goodie table’ with snacks and candy that they can take at the end of their shift, and ‘pizza day’ where we order out pizza for the employees,” Schluep said.
In the future, Schluep hopes to raise the employee discount to thank employees for continuing their work and persevering through these staff shortages.
According to Schluep, employees at the CoHo can build skills in time management, customer service and communication that can be used in future employment. Schluep also mentioned that there are opportunities for advancement in supervisor or student manager positions.
“Since it started in the late 60’s, the Coffee House has a proud tradition of student-focused food service that has elevated it to becoming the most popular place to eat and drink on campus,” Schluep said. “We’re looking for the next group of students to be a part of that tradition.”
Written by: Emily Redman — campus@theaggie.org
