Emily McLaughlin sleeps in later on Friday mornings, as she works from home rather than her office in Louisiana State University (LSU). After checking the internet connection, she uses this time to catch up on administrative work.
Like many post-pandemic workers, McLaughlin gets the choice of hybrid work days.
¨I think there was a shift in culture after COVID,¨ LSU Residence Coordinator (RC) McLaughlin said. ¨Of this idea of making sure that you are putting yourself first as a person.¨
In contrast to LSU, K-State does not uphold the hybrid model and still requires their full-time positions employees to live in the residency they supervise. This has resulted in a lack of applicants to fill these positions.
¨There´s such a level of importance placed on work-life balance within these types of living positions and I think that if people aren't well versed in that then it´s not [a job] that is appealing to them,¨ Mclaughlin said.
¨People realized where they needed balance and how they needed balance, and in a housing position, if that meant they wanted to work remotely, obviously they can't do that,¨ Whitney Penn, assistant director of Academic and Student Programs said.
¨There have been quite a few people applying for the CC positions who have been asking if there is any possibility to not have to live in the residence halls,¨ Penn said. ¨To either be able to live off-campus or at least not in the halls.¨
Currently, K-State Housing Services does not provide housing flexibility for residence halls CC´s.
“I think there has been a bit of turnover in all areas, but this is due to the nature of housing positions and the component of COVID,” Ford Hall Community Coordinator (CC) Lauren Rockhold said. Residence and Community Coordinators make sure that the needs of their buildings and Resident Assistants are met.
“I will say that we have seen turnover in the CC level because most of our staff that have or are currently departing have been in the role and have not transitioned out due to COVID,¨ Rockhold said. ¨This has kept CCs in roles maybe a little longer than anticipated which has led to the appearance of more turnover.”
Post-COVID Enrollment
Additionally, enrollment decline has been prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic. “The difference between the classes - freshman fall of 19 to fall of 20 - was a drop of about 700 freshmen,” Derek Jackson, director of Housing and Dining Services and Associate Vice President for Student Life said. “Fall of 22, which we just were at the backside of that class, we rose about a hundred.”
To combat enrolment decline, K-State has made it a requirement for a majority of its incoming freshmen to find residency on-campus.
“Housing and Dining is, for the most part, one of the key indicators of a student coming as a first year,” Jackson said. “When [incoming students] sign a housing contract, they're 95% locked in to come to K-State. We'll have in the neighborhood, let's say 10,000 applicants as first-year incoming students. We'll end up with about 5,000 being admitted, and [Housing and Dining will] get about 3,000 students.”
Future Plans For Housing and Dining
In order to accommodate the needs of both the students and the full-time staff living in the residence halls, K-State will have to adapt and help create a work-life balance.
¨We are going to continue to hire and find creative ways to recruit,¨ Bryan L. Hinnen, assistant director of Residence Life & Leadership Programs said. ¨We´re looking at other fields that might have transferable skills.¨
¨Ultimately, the number of applicants is going to come down to how do you make the role something that people need now and not what worked in the past,¨ Penn said.
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Story by: Fernanda Martinez and Summer Sperke
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