University Advising
Office of Undergraduate Education
Day-to-day responsibilities help your team operate effectively while keeping student success at the center. Explore managerial topics, including faciltiating one-on-one and team meetings, managing performance, navigating difficult conversations and conflict, and the HR and administrative tasks that often come with supervising advisors.
Use the resources below as a reference guide for common employment topics, including employee benefits, FMLA, remote and hybrid work agreements, workplace accommodations, and other Human Resources policies and processes. Explore each topic for guidance, helpful resources, and key considerations, and bookmark this page for easy access whenever questions arise.
When in doubt, contact Human Resources: 517-353-4434 (toll-free: 800-353-4434) · SolutionsCenter@hr.msu.edu
New employees need to complete their benefits enrollment within 30 days of their hire date. Benefits enrollment will occur during the month of October each year for current employees. The following resources are available to help employees make informed decisions regarding their benefits.
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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that provides eligible employees with protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons.
FMLA requires eligible employees be allowed to take unpaid leave, or earned paid leave, for up to 12 work weeks in any 12 month period in the event of:
As a supervisor, your role is not to determine eligibility or interpret policy. Instead, your responsibility is to recognize when an employee may need leave and connect them with the appropriate HR resources.
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Vacation eligibility, leave reporting, and time-entry processes may vary by employee classification and appointment type. Supervisors should understand the procedures used within their unit and communicate expectations clearly to employees. Support staff typically report time through EBS, while academic staff may use local tracking systems, spreadsheets, or request forms depending on unit practices.
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Supervisor Tip: Consider discussing anticipated vacation schedules during annual planning conversations to avoid staffing challenges during peak advising periods.
Remote and hybrid work arrangements can support operational flexibility while maintaining service to students and campus partners. Supervisors should understand unit expectations, follow institutional guidance around remote/hybrid work, and consult HR when questions arise regarding eligibility or approval processes.
Explore FAQs and remote work resources below.
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MSU employees, including student employees, can request reasonable accommodations for the workplace. Accommodations are determined through a partnership between RCPD, MSU's Office of Employee and Labor Relations (ELR) Accommodations Specialist, the employee, and the supervisor.
If employees are requesting workplace accommodations, encourage them to submit an application via AccessMSU. This includes submitting sufficient medical documentation. For more detailed information about using AccessMSU, check out our AccessMSU resource page.
Additional resources are provided below.
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Employees may request accommodations related to held religious beliefs, practices, or observances. To the extent possible, supervisors and unit leaders should anticipate and consider religious holidays and celebrations when planning events like meetings, retreats, unit events, etc. For more information about religious holidays please refer to the religious observance calendar.
Supervisors should approach these requests respectfully and work with Employee and Labor Relations or Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs when guidance is needed.
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Regular meetings are where most day-to-day management actually happens, not in the annual review, but in the weekly and monthly check-ins that catch problems early and keep people aligned. The resources below give you a starting structure for both individual and team meetings, plus a way to think about where each advisor is in their own development, so you can tailor how you show up for them.
Make a copy and use it to guide your next individual meeting with a team member.
A structure for running team meetings that stay focused and actually move things forward.
A quick reference for where each advisor is in their growth, so you can adjust your support accordingly.
Difficult conversations are an inevitable part of supervising others. This section provides practical resources for approaching challenging conversations with confidence, respect, and professionalism, as well as tools and strategies for managing workplace conflict.
Performance management is the ongoing work of setting clear expectations, recognizing good work, and addressing concerns before they grow. This section covers how to prepare for and conduct annual reviews, how reappointment and promotion pathways work for the advisors you supervise, and how to recognize and respond to performance concerns, including when a formal improvement plan is warranted.
Annual reviews are one of the most visible parts of a supervisor's role, and often one of the most anxiety-inducing, for supervisors and advisors alike. This section covers how to prepare for those annual evaluations, hold review conversations that are honest and constructive, and document performance.
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Examples from University Advising
Academic specialists at MSU are appointed under one of two systems, and the reappointment process looks different depending on which one applies to your advisor. Advisors move through different pathways depending on their appointment type, and your role as a supervisor shifts slightly at each stage, from fixed-term reappointment, to the path toward continuing status, to promotion to senior specialist.
| Fixed-Term System | Continuing System | |
| Appointment structure | Variable-length appointments on an academic-year or annual basis; may be full-time (100%) or part-time (any percentage less than 100%). | Serves two probationary periods leading toward continuing status. |
| Reappointment | Negotiated directly with the unit and completed via the Fixed-Term Memorandum; the appointment carries no automatic expectation of renewal. | Formal reappointment reviews occur at the end of two probationary periods, each lasting three years. |
| Path to Senior Specialist | Eligible after 5 years (60 FTE service months). | Eligible after 5 years (60 FTE service months). Typically pursued after achieving continuing status, but can be done concurrently with the continuing-status submission. |
Where to go for authoritative information
Processes and forms can change, so always confirm current details through:
Most advisors meet expectations most of the time, but supervisor may eventually need to address a performance concern. This section covers recognizing performance concerns early, documenting and responding to them consistently, and using a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) when a more formal process is required.
Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
Per MSU HR policy, any advisor who receives a "Does Not Meet Expectations" rating on their annual review must complete a signed PIP and submit it to HR along with the annual review. The PIP review period runs 90 days, with required check-ins at the 30- and 60-day marks. Contact your unit HR representative or Employee Relations for help setting PIP goals. Once the 90-day period ends, you and the advisor resume the standard review cycle with a Performance Planning meeting for the remainder of the year.
What is a PIP?
A PIP is a formal document that:
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