Work Plans
It is very important to envision what you will expect from the employees in a green living program (GLP) before you actually create the job descriptions and especially before you start seeking applicants. Set your expectations in terms of time commitments and think through an accountability framework. For example, how often will the GLP reps meet with the coordinator? How often will they have to submit written reports?
Remember that students can often be unrealistic about their own goals because they are not as familiar with how a university operates and they often do not budget their time as well as one might hope. Similarly, students tend not to think in semester-long or year-long terms, whereas you will have to think in these wide time frames to set and reach a list of realistic goals. You will, of course, have to encourage the students to do the same, at least when they are thinking through their ability to commit to the GLP job.
Academic Priority
You will have to keep in mind during recruitment and throughout the entire year that a student’s primary responsibility is to being a student. There will be times when students may become overwhelmed with academic work or other issues. Be realistic about their time commitments to counterbalance these inevitable busy times. For example, four hours per week allows a student to do x, y and z—a limited set of activities.
Also realize that you will have to be flexible with the hours students clock per week. It is best to have their weekly commitments be "on average." For example, some students may work six hours in one week and two the next to properly balance their GLP and academic work. Some weeks, they may have to work a reduced schedule because of midterm exams. Be open to letting them make the hours up at another time.
Avoiding Discouragement
Students may be overly enthusiastic in the beginning of the semester. As schoolwork piles up and students find themselves overburdened with work and responsibilities, you may find that even the individuals with the best intentions drift off or become unresponsive. While reps can catch up with tasks after busy periods have subsided, the fact that they have fallen behind may leave them feeling discouraged.
It is best to avoid this situation by setting reasonable time commitments and work plans from the get-go. Thinking through a list of reasonable goals will enable you to figure out the student workload, which will help in writing the position description. Again, all of this should be carefully thought through before you begin the student recruitment process.
Keep in mind, however, that despite your best planning efforts, surprises will arise. Expect to flesh out the work plan more throughout the year, especially upon consultation with the students you hire to be GLP captains.
From Yearly Calendar to Campaigns to Work Plans
Once you have a yearly calendar of events, you can define your campaign periods. The Harvard Green Campus Initiative (HGCI) GLP functions on two-week periods; however, you may find a different time setting is more appropriate for your own campus.
Once you have committed a period of time to a particular campaign (or set of campaigns), you will be able to break the campaign period into tasks. The HGCI allots eight hours of student rep time for every two weeks, with 1.5 of those hours going toward the mandatory meeting at the beginning of the biweekly period. With 6.5 hours left for the reps’ actual work, you will quickly discover what is feasible for the them to accomplish in the two-week period.