This is follow up to the All Staff communication from Paul O’Flaherty.
It is important for your wellbeing to take leave. Many staff have taken less leave this year due to COVID. 37 staff will have more than 110 hours or equivalent at the end of December, that is more than 8 weeks leave to use in 2021 if you are to get to zero by 31 Dec 2021. If you are in this situation please consider taking some additional leave this year. It will be beneficial for you and your colleagues.
You will be aware that UC is expecting that international students are unlikely to return in any numbers in 2021 although this is expected to change in 2022. This has created some significant budget challenges for 2021 that the university is working on addressing. One way that we can all contribute is to reduce leave balances.
All libraries will now close on 18 December. It is expected that everyone at UC will take annual leave for 19-23 December, expect for some critical staff such as Security and payroll. In the current financial situation this is a much better option than redundancies and it is good for staff to have a long break given the year we have had. Other universities, including Waikato, Massey and Lincoln, are also expecting staff to take annual leave over the Christmas. Please start entering this leave into PeopleSoft.
“All” leave refers to annual leave. Long Service leave is not included and does not have an impact on budget, so please take your annual leave first. If you have long service leave expiring in the next two years and a lot of annual leave talk to your manager about the options.
Staff are expected to put their anticipated annual leave into PeopleSoft by 31 Jan 2021. AYO staff can do this after their return to work in February. This leave can be changed as circumstances change and there will be some flexibility on when the leave is taken depending on personal circumstances. You can cancel and move leave in PeopleSoft up to the current pay period (around 2 weeks). Once the leave has been calculated for the current pay period you need to fill in a form because it is a manual process to change.
Let me know if you have any other questions. We are all in this together.
Ngā mihi nui, Anne
I have been asked if you can take your 2021 leave in Jan 2022 to cover school holidays. Yes, there is flexibility in these circumstances. You can take the leave in Jan 2022 as long as you have entered it in PeopleSoft so your intentions are known and do not have a large amount of outstanding leave. Excess leave must be taken in 2021.