Recording staff locations

The University has a statutory duty to know the whereabouts of its staff who hold UKVI Tier 2 and Tier 5 visas. The University has, additionally, determined that this requirement should extend to all staff. The information below describes how this is implemented within the School of Informatics.

Unplanned absences (eg sick leave, emergency parental leave) should be notified to absent@inf.ed.ac.uk, as described in our sickness absence information. 

Annual leave absences should be requested and recorded as described in our annual leave and public holidays information.

Other absences of more than half a day from the normal place of work, on University business, should be recorded as described below.

Absences from normal place of work on University business

Staff should create an Office 365 Calendar and share it with Informatics HR. Follow the instructions on how to do this. Staff may also wish to share their calendar with others (eg members of their research team, their portfolio manager, the appropriate level (admin) office, etc) but there is no obligation to do so.

Staff may either create an Office 365 Calendar specifically to record absences (as described in the instructions) and share it, or share their primary Office 365 Calendar, providing the information below is included for absences from their normal place of work. If the latter option is chosen, then InfHR and anyone else with whom they share their calendar, will have access to all the information that it contains, so care would need to be taken with any personal information.

For each absence on business, the information that is required to be recorded in your Office 365 Calendar is:

• Reason for being away from normal place of work (eg attending meeting, conference, etc) with name of event, if appropriate.
• Location whilst away from normal place of work (eg Day 1; travelling: Day 2; XYZ University, London: Day 3; XYZ University London and travelling).

University policy is to record absences of half a day or more.

Absences on annual leave should also be recorded in the member of staff's Office 365 calendar.

Staff who also wish to record their location and absences in an alternative calendaring system and share it with InfHR and others, as appropriate, should check with InfHR, first.

Notes

1. It is recognised that academic and research staff do not necessarily work regular 'office hours'. Your Office 365 calendar should indicate if your working pattern in any week is not standard (ie any morning or afternoon, Monday to Friday, when you will not be at your normal place of work for at least part of that period).
2. The University defines your normal place of work as the University campus where you habitually work or other University campus where you are delivering scheduled teaching.   Not being at your normal place of work includes; working at home, visiting another University, visiting a commercial collaborator, attending a conference or working at another University campus, other than to deliver scheduled teaching.
3. An FAQ, provided by University HR.