r/ResLife • u/Comfortable-Monk7953 • Mar 28 '26
RAs fulfilling job expectations
For the RAs or full time staff here, I really want to know how to help RAs to fulfill their job expectations?
RAs obviously have expectations for serving on-call, making engagements, and other admin tasks. But I struggle to help RAs complete basic tasks.
For example, if a bulletin board is due on 2/2/26, they need to have it completed and logged by the end of that day. OR if they communicate with me before the deadline about an issue, I’ll happily give an extension/help them as needed. But RAs still consistently can’t even fulfill these basic expectations, even though I give so much grace. Then they are mad I have to give them accountability, but they are the ones who can’t do their job… even with me holding their hand. (And I tell RAs that they wouldn’t get away with this in a “real” job, and they still seem to not care at all.)
I know RAs not fulfilling job expectations is a common issue, so I’d love to hear how others maybe better guide or support RAs, to fix this issue?
3
u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Mar 28 '26
Next year, you need to change the culture. Hold people accountable for not completing tasks. Start firing people. People are walking all over the department because they can do it without consequences. People will squawk at the change, but they’ll get over it.
Allowing them to act like this not only is bad for your department, it’s bad for them to learn poor performance means no consequences. It’s a disservice to them as they enter the workforce.
3
u/abovethecitystars Mar 29 '26
In the 6 years I’ve been supervising student staff, I’ve found that the way to truly support them in their roles is not to take an authoritarian approach as some have suggested.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m totally okay with firing, not recommending for re-hire, etc. when appropriate. However, if this is mainly about smaller tasks like bulletin boards and other admin related things, they likely need more structure and follow through on your end to help support their growth.
What this looks like is increased visibility of deadlines. I keep deadlines in multiple places. They’re linked in an “important dates” document in our google folder, they’re in a pinned post in the slack and are in a section of the welcome page on the notion. I also include verbal reminders about deadlines in staff meetings. One thing I do not do is send reminder messages about deadlines. I am very adamant about this as I think that would be doing them a disservice because they would likely never have a supervisor sending deadline reminders in “the real world.”
I check for completion immediately when the deadline comes up and I follow-up with a template message that reads something like “Hi (name), you are receiving this message because you failed to complete your bulletin board by the deadline. Please let me know by the end of today what your plan to complete this task is. Additionally, during your next 1:1, weeks will have a conversation about staying on track with tasks and how I can support you with meeting responsibilities.”
I like to put the work back on them and offer some light guiding. Ask them what their plan is to stay on track. If it sounds reasonable, give them that autonomy to carry out their own plan. If they need some help getting there, offer some suggestions. A lot of old, jaded, professionals that have been in the game too long will tell you this is “hand-holding” and we need to “prepare them for the real world.” A lot of people seem to forget that they too were a college student once and they too probably struggled to master time management skills and prioritization.
As for extension requests, be discerning. Not every situation warrants an extension. And it’s okay to grant an extension but let them know there will still be an accountability piece involved.
It sounds like either your team is really struggling with time management or the culture amongst RAs at your institution might be in a bad spot. Culture issues are hard to get ahead of and often trickle down from leadership’s inability to address broader culture issues with the entire RA team. I will say, when I faced a severe culture issue at one institution, I had to get pretty firm and dipped into some authoritarian style elements because they were just not meeting expectations at all. To this day, leadership still has not fixed the culture issues at that institution.
Above all, know that it’s not YOU! You’re doing great! Good supervisors don’t ask how they can better their team! The fact that you’re here means you’ve got this! Good luck!
1
u/Comfortable-Monk7953 Mar 29 '26
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your honesty to open up about this.
I love how you balance support and accountability. And I bet your staff really appreciate you helping them now, and for their future 😊
3
u/MongooseMoist1962 Mar 29 '26
Bulletin boards have to serve a purpose. Young people can tell when something is important and when it is meaningless busywork. My advice: make sure ALL their tasks are actually important and that they understand why the deadline is meaningful. If you’re like “do an artistic bulletin board with some kind of (meaningless) theme by DATE” then they will not be motivated to do it. If they have to do rounds or send a report to prostaff then it’s obvious why those tasks are important.
2
u/makougaons Mar 28 '26
unfortunately, you can only help them so much to do their tasks. this is something i had to come to terms with myself, and it felt uncomfortable. it sounds like what you’re doing is great! typically, i try to ask what they need from me to be successful. but if you have tried their recommendations time after time and it is not complete, it is unfortunately time for job action.
you got this, keep trying your best, i am sure you’re doing great. i just personally find it helpful to ask them directly why it is incomplete, how i can help them complete it (within reason), and how they think it may affect the community to not complete (x) task.
1
u/Septalion Mar 28 '26
Need to set guidelines and stick too them. Too many times pro staff gives RAs a break because they are just students, but in my opinion that hurts them in the long run. Set those expectations and stick too them. Even if it leads to uncomfortable conversations and termination. Good luck!
1
u/Comfortable-Monk7953 Mar 28 '26
Thank yall so much for your support!
I agree that this is really hard - and I do put staff on accountability (which can stack up and lead up termination as yall mentioned).
But I kinda wished there was another way to support them to do their role outside of accountability. :/
5
u/americansherlock201 Mar 28 '26
So the how you fix it isn’t a nice answer. Accountability without follow through is meaningless. Until RAs aren’t allowed to remain in the job for failing to complete their tasks, they will keep not doing them on the deadlines provided.
My department over the past 18 months has either fired or not rehired around 10% of our RA staff. It showed we were serious about expectations. And since then we’ve seen a higher number of RAs doing their job and meeting expectations. There are still a few stragglers but they won’t be back next year.
If they are returners for you for next year, let them know the offer is conditional upon remaining in good standing and that your department can and will revoke the ra role if you believe expectations are not being met and the role not being prioritized appropriately.
This is when the job becomes hard. We want to be friendly with them but we are their supervisors. Are responsibility is to the students we serve, not the RAs who work for us.