Absence for part time and condensed hours working patterns

A significant number of employees at the University of Reading work part time, variable or condensed hours which means their leave is recorded in hours - this does not change the amount of holiday entitlement received, only the unit it is measured in.

Staff who work less than 5 days a week or who work different hours each day have their holiday calculated in hours. Annual leave, bank holidays and closure days are calculated on a pro-rata basis. This ensures that the correct deductions are made according to the working pattern.

Whilst the calculations in ESS are made in hours, the actual annual leave booking process works the same for both full time and part time staff, by selecting the chosen dates using the calendar icons and saving. A Quick Reference Guide for Annual Leave (Hours) for staff has been created to help users with the new process.

Working Patterns

The working pattern is used to see which bank holidays and closure days fall on days when an individual works and these are deducted from the entitlement 'balance' to give the remaining amount to be used for personal holiday. For example, a part time pattern of 21 hours per week, 7 hours on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would look like this:

The Absence calendar in Employee Self Service also shows the working pattern which is an easy way for part time staff to check that the correct working hours are held in Trent. All Bank Holiday/Closure Days (they are considered the same in ESS) will show in the calendar, however they will only be deducted from the entitlement if you are due to work that day. For example, Christmas Eve falls in this working pattern on a (Thursday) and so will deduct 7 hours, however Christmas Day does not fall within the working pattern (it falls on a Friday) and so would deduct 0.

How does Trent calculate my entitlement?

Trent calculates holiday entitlement using FTE and grade, which is displayed on the holiday balances screen on the Absence tab.

Annual Leave Entitlement = Holiday (Grade related) + Bank Holidays + Closure Days + Carry Over

Entitlement: This is your Grade related total annual leave allowance in hours including the correct pro rata entitlement of 8 bank holidays and 6 University closure days. For example, a Grade 6 and above full entitlement is 280 hours. For a 0.6FTE worker their entitlement would therefore be 168 hours for the year.

It will also include any carryover that has been authorised each year.

Taken: The amount of leave that has been taken so far within the leave year, it will include personal holiday taken, plus BH/Closure days.

Scheduled is your BH/Closure days that have been scheduled/deducted from the overall entitlement. This is calculated specifically against your working pattern. For example, if you work 7 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, only the BH/Closure days that fall on those days will be deducted. In this example pattern there are 6 of these in 2015-16 leave year and so a deduction of 42 hours is scheduled.

Balance is how much you have for personal holiday bookings. If you haven't made any requests yet for 2015-16, 126 hours is starting balance.

Q - I haven't requested any annual leave for the new leave year but ESS says that I have 'scheduled' 11 days.

A - To take account of some part-time staff who do not normally work on the days when Bank holidays and Closure Days fall, leave entitlement on Trent includes (pro-rata) entitlement to Bank holidays and Closure Days. These days are pre-loaded into Trent several years in advance (when the University agrees the closure day schedule) and is deducted from your leave entitlement. These are shown as 'Scheduled' on the 'Holiday Balances' screen. The amount of leave which you are able to take is shown as 'Balance'.

Further information about the dates for forthcoming Bank Holidays and University Closure Days can be found in the University Closure Days document under 'Things to do now'

Q - I work term-time only: why can't I see my annual leave in ESS?

A - Staff working on a term-time only basis or 'part year' workers generally received their entitlement as payment in lieu at the end of each session so would not have a Holiday Scheme. There are however a small number of staff who do have time off instead of payment in lieu and these staff are able to make bookings via Employee Self Service. Your leave will be pro rata'd accordingly and will be calculated in hours. It is important to note that if you do not work all year, no Bank Holidays and Closure days will have been deducted from your balance, therefore if you take any days over bank holidays which are part of your normally working period you will need to book these as annual leave. If you have any questions about this, please speak to your School/Departmental Administrator in the first instance or contact hr@reading.ac.uk