Planned Time Off and Leave
Employees should use the leave they earn.
Time away from work is a normal part of employment. The goal of ISS leave planning is not to discourage time off. It is to ensure that planned absences are communicated early enough for the department to maintain service coverage and coordinate work.
College leave procedures determine eligibility for and the appropriate use of vacation, personal business leave, sick leave, compensatory time, bereavement leave, and other forms of leave.
Request Planned Time Off
Planned time away from work should be requested from the employee's manager and approved before the employee treats the time as scheduled.
Employees should request leave as early as reasonably possible.
As an ISS planning expectation, employees should generally try to provide:
- Approximately one month of notice for a planned absence of one week or longer.
- At least three working days of notice for shorter planned absences.
These are planning guidelines rather than guarantees or absolute deadlines.
Circumstances vary, and managers may approve requests with less notice when department coverage and other responsibilities allow.
Approval Depends on Operational Needs
Managers should consider:
- Customer and service coverage
- Other employee absences
- Projects
- Maintenance
- Major College events
- Deadlines
- Required meetings
- Other operational needs
Whenever practical, managers should work with employees to accommodate reasonable leave requests.
Personal Information
Employees do not need to provide unnecessary personal details when requesting leave.
The manager needs enough information to understand the requested dates, duration, and the appropriate leave or administrative process when relevant.
Certain leave types may require additional information or documentation under College or Human Resources procedures. That information should be handled through the appropriate process rather than informally shared more broadly than necessary.
After Leave Is Approved
- Employees should update their Outlook calendar and the ISS team calendar. Calendar entries should clearly show that the employee is unavailable without unnecessarily disclosing private information.
- Employees should send an email to the team about the planned absence.
- At the beginning of each month, send an email to the team listing planned absences for the month.
- Employees should remind the team of the planned absence a couple of days beforehand in case another team member needs something before they leave.
Employees should also:
- Reschedule or decline meetings as appropriate.
- Notify coworkers actively depending on their work.
- Provide handoffs when necessary.
- Address important customer commitments.
- Ensure backups have information needed to cover critical responsibilities.
Projects and Scheduled Work
If an employee is actively working with others on a project, maintenance activity, or significant assignment, communicate planned leave directly to the people affected.
A calendar entry by itself may not be sufficient when another employee is depending on a deliverable or decision.
Connection to Our Values
People Matter because employees need time away from work and teams need reasonable coverage.
Communication Matters because advance notice allows the department to plan.
Integrity Matters because approved leave, schedules, and work commitments should be accurately represented.