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Student workers at Bon Appétit, Whitman College’s food services provider, have been facing reduced hours and uncertain scheduling. This has raised concerns amongst the student workers about financial stability and job security. While Bon Appétit manager, Shannon Null claims that student hours have not been cut but rather redistributed from Reid Marketplace and Jewett Café (J-Caf) to Cleveland Commons, stories of student employees tell a different story.
With some struggling to get enough hours, and others claiming their requests for more work have been ignored, several student workers reported a noticeable drop in available shifts, non-consistent scheduling, and a lack of communication from the management regarding the changes.
Students Report Fewer Shifts and Unclear Communication
Moatasem Aldeen, another Bon Appétit student worker, has seen his hours drop significantly without warning.
“I used to work up to 20 hours a week by picking up shifts, but two weeks ago, I was getting just four,” Aldeen said.
Aldeen raised his concerns with multiple managers, including Shannon Null and other supervisors at Cleveland Commons, but was informed that shifts were being fairly distributed.
“They told me there weren’t enough shifts, but then they started hiring new students, and training them” Aldeen said, “It makes no sense to hire new workers when the ones already trained aren’t getting hours.”
Impact on Student Workers
For many student employees, fewer hours mean financial hardship and persistent struggles to manage their day to day expenses as well as familial obligations. Particularly, International students, said they rely on campus jobs to cover expenses and were not prepared for sudden schedule changes.
Aldeen said he directly informed management about his financial needs, including family obligations and tax payments, but saw no changes in his schedule.
“It’s not that they don’t know we need these shifts – they know,” Aldeen said, “They just choose to ignore it. I still don’t have any scheduled shifts. I only rely on the ones people drop so as to get enough hours.”
Calls for More Transparency and Fair Scheduling
Students affected by the scheduling shifts insist Bon Appétit and Whitman College improve communication and create clearer safeguarding policies for all student workers with some suggesting that the administration should step in to ensure fairness in shift distribution and provide a better regulation and implementation of student employment policies.
“There needs to be some kind of policy to protect student workers,” Aldeen said. “Right now, it feels random and unfair.”
Bon Appétit has not yet issued a formal statement regarding the student complaints or communicated anything to the students whose shifts have been cut. Manager Shannon Null provided only brief comment due to a busy schedule, stating that hours had not been cut but instead shifted from J-Caf and Reid to Cleveland Commons. However, what the student workers say does not match that explanation. HR typically oversees student employment policies, and some workers believe increased involvement could help ensure clearer communication, fair shift distribution, and more structured hiring practices. Currently, there is no formalized process for student workers to contest scheduling decisions, leaving them dependent on individual managers. Whether HR or college administration will step in to attend to and clarify these concerns remains unclear. As the semester progresses, impacted employees will be watching closely to see if Bon Appétit makes changes – or if student workers will continue to struggle with reduced hours and a lack of transparency.
