Travel disruption
There may be occasions where unforeseen circumstances, such as rail strikes or adverse weather conditions cause disruption for some staff travelling to work, particularly those who can only carry out their duties on Campus.
We ask staff to make every reasonable effort to get to work and recommend early conversations between staff and line managers to identify anyone who is likely to face problems. This will allow you to put a plan in place in advance of any issues that may arise and agree an approach.
Employees
You should be asked to consider alternative ways to travel to work such as car share/pooling (if they live close to other colleagues). If someone is genuinely not able to come to work, and has taken every reasonable step, they should agree with their manager in advance how the time will be covered. This may not account for every eventuality but will be relevant for most circumstances.
Managers
We ask that you consider flexibility around start and finish times, including rearranging shifts in order to facilitate staff attendance at work. In some cases, you may be able to identify alternative work that can be done from home.
For staff who are scheduled to teach, moving teaching online is an exceptional step, however after exploring all other options, with the approval of your Head of Department teaching can be moved online. Executive Deans must be notified in all instances where teaching has been moved online so that they can monitor the effects on cohorts of students.
The following options can also be considered:
- A day’s paid annual leave
- A day’s unpaid leave
- A paid day with the agreement to make up the lost hours on a later date
Further information can be found in our Special Leave Policy. If you have an individual case which cannot be managed using this approach, please contact staffing@essex.ac.uk
