Spring Wage Updates Bring Welcome Change
With the arrival of the spring semester, the student Senate’s annual student job wage updates have been released. This year’s wave of updates included a number of substantial changes in the form of updates to existing wages and the allocation of funding to positions that previously were not paid but were deemed important enough to be, thereby effectively creating new jobs for students at Reed. The Quest reached out to Emma Benson ‘26, the student who conducted the wage review this year, for their perspective on the process and resulting updates.
Benson initially outlined the wage review process, describing how they conducted the wage review in the fall to allow time for the changes to go into place in the spring semester. They highlighted the lack of formal process the position typically has, commenting that “in years past…there was a blank slide saying ‘everyone is underpaid’” with no actual suggestions for changes. They added that, as such, they felt the system needed a “huge overhaul,” and that one of their main goals was to lay a groundwork for future revision to be less difficult.
This year, Benson highlighted the specific difficulties of developing their own process for the wage review, especially when keeping compatibility for future years in mind. Benson described their methods: surveying “how many hours [employees] work on average, or what their distribution of work hours looked like” and calculating how many dollars per hour they made based on their wage and hours worked. Benson also included space for an opportunity to mention the changes and support students want to better fulfill their role. In doing so, Benson found a number of discrepancies between positions that largely worked the same number of hours but worked for different clubs. They explicitly stated that they tried “not to prioritize one club or organization over another,” citing the imbalance in wages required for some positions to make more money than other positions that work more hours.
Benson proposed adjustments that equalized pay for many clubs, providing significant bonuses to the Pool Hall, KRRC, and the Quest, among others. In addition, they suggested the allocation of remaining funds to other, currently unpaid, positions for the darkroom, Print Shoppe, and the Griffin Yearbook. Benson’s findings, however, were not entirely conclusive, serving as suggestions for the student treasury, rather than stalwart guidelines. The student Senate “looked at each position and voted amongst themselves,” though there were changes made since Benson’s initial suggestions as guided by the review.
Namely, the Treasury found that Senate had over-budgeted the figure provided to Benson, and were forced to reconsider the changes that they had initially voted on finalizing. As a result, Senate conducted another wage review internally, using the framework and data compiled by Benson relating to previous student wages to refresh their updates with the adjusted budget. These updated changes will go into effect this semester as decided by Senate, despite the short notice of their implementation. While Benson noted that they disagree with some of the final changes made by Senate, they appreciated the progress towards more fair wages across student jobs at Reed, acknowledging the tangible developments in this year’s wage updates. A particularly striking detail of this wave of updates is Senate’s commitment to not decreasing any wages—a welcome decision for a number of students already working for clubs on campus. A statement is planned for next week’s Senate Public regarding the situation of the wage review, and their decision on how to go forward with it.
Wage updates at Reed vary based on the budget allotted to the Treasury and would typically not change drastically otherwise, unless Oregon updates its minimum wage. In the case that Oregon’s minimum wage does increase, the Treasury’s budget may increase again, as it historically has. Benson ultimately mused that they were “happy everyone is getting paid,” thankful for the flexibility typically provided for student jobs at Reed, and satisfied with their work in installing a foundation for future wage updates to go smoothly in the future, hoping the “next person… won’t have to do as much work” as wages change and jobs are added in future years at Reed.