Annual leave and Flexi updates

The way annual leave is calculated will now be in hours, instead of days, due to a new system being introduced. 

As part of this change, the system that many employees use to record leave and flexi is set to change on 26 February.  

All employees who use the Etarmis system for requesting leave and logging flexi-time will be required to move to using the current HR self-service tool (i-Trent). 

A new Leave module is being introduced to our HR Self Service Tool, which will be used to record Annual Leave, Special Leave and Flexi Leave. One of the key changes which is part of the new Leave module is that annual leave will now be calculated in hours, not days. Overall annual leave entitlement will, however, remain the same. This means that all new contracts will also now display annual leave entitlement in hours. 

These changes will immediately impact: 

• All employees who use Etarmis to book leave and log flexi.
• All staff who approve leave or flexi (whether this is currently done on Etarmis or not)  

If you currently request your leave using a paper form this won't change, but the way it will be approved and processed will change. 

Why are we changing this? 

As part of our HR System improvements we are looking at using as few systems as possible to manage every day processes.  We want to make it easier to calculate annual leave automatically rather than doing this manually. This will avoid any confusion, avoid errors and make it a simpler process. 

Annual leave in hours  

The way annual leave entitlement will be displayed in contracts and the system will change from days to hours.  This change will affect all employees who have entitlement to book and take annual leave.  The number of days leave entitlement remains the same, and an online calculator has been developed to allow staff to convert hours to days if needed.  When requesting full days leave, the system will calculate how many hours need to be subtracted from your balance.  

Flexi terminals in buildings  

Moving these processes to the HR self-service tool will mean changes to how employees with flexi manage their time and bookings.   

Swipe-in terminals will be removed from buildings, as these will no longer be required to log your working day. Instead, flexi will operate by employees entering their hours worked into the HR self-service tool each day.  

Support  

Drop-ins demos will be held in February to allow staff to see how the tool will operate and to support a smooth transition for all.

These sessions are being held on:

• Monday 12 February, 11am to 12 midday,  Barrhead Civic Room 1
• Tuesday 13 February, 11am to 12 midday, Teams (Join the meeting via this link)
• Thursday 15 February, 11am to 12 midday, Eastwood Marriage Suite

A pilot of the new system is also currently under way, so any issues should be dealt with in advance of it going live for all. If you have any immediate questions, please contact  leaveenquiries@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk  . 

We will be updating the HR Intranet pages with further information to support staff with this change, including guidance.