Date:

October 8, 2009

To:

Chief Administrative Officers; Business Officers; HRIS Users; Divisional HR Offices

From:

Christina Sass-Kortsak, Assistant Vice-President, Human Resources

Re:

Pandemic Planning – Follow-up re Absence Tracking in HRIS Implementation

In Angela Hildyard’s memo of August 19, 2009 (HR#6, Pandemic Planning – Absence Tracking in HRIS), all Division Heads and Chief Administrative Officers were asked for their support in establishing a regular, ongoing and timely practice of recording all absence information in HRIS for all appointed staff no later than mid-September 2009. The establishment of such a practice is particularly important in anticipation of a widespread H1N1 influenza this fall. In consideration of this, while the ultimate objective is that all staff absences including vacation will be maintained in HRIS, the current priority is to record sick days.

All departments/divisions now should have a practice established for recording all absence information in HRIS for all appointed staff. In conjunction with this, all staff should know who to report their absence to and that the person responsible for maintaining absence information in HRIS is doing so on a regular basis. Regular recording will ensure that managers have access to timely and reliable information.

A number of Sick Day Reports have been developed and are currently available in HRIS. HRIS users (e.g., Business Officers), may access these reports by following the following path in HRIS: Human Resources > Information System > Time Management > Absence > Sick Day Report. These reports will assist departments/divisions in monitoring absences and in supporting operational planning and decisions. The reports will also assist the University administration in making decisions regarding the status of activities at the University during a pandemic.

Special Sick Day Tracking information sessions are currently available to any staff with responsibility for onlining of absence information in HRIS. Sessions are available on all three campuses. Details are available at:http://www.ams.utoronto.ca/training/hris.htm in the HRIS Course Registration and Calendar of Events section. HRIS users who have not yet registered for a session should speak with their supervisor before registering. Please note that staff at UTM and UTSC who will be responsible for onlining absence information have been invited to attend a session by their local HR Office.

In Angela Hildyard’s subsequent memo (HR#7, Pandemic Planning – Absence Tracking in HRIS Implementation) of August 26, 2009, which was posted to the AMS listserv, additional details on processing absence information in HRIS were provided. In the memo, departments/divisions were advised to continue to record absence information in HRIS according to the appropriate biweekly and/or monthly payroll schedules. However, the memo also indicated that departments/divisions may be required to record absences in HRIS on a more frequent basis and this is now the case. In light of the recent reports that Ontario may now be entering a second wave of H1N1, we are asking departments/divisions to record absence information in HRIS on a weekly basis beginning now.

If you have HRIS processing related inquiries, please contact Darlene Chow at darlene.chow@utoronto.ca or 978-5048 orhris.help@utoronto.ca. For information on pandemic planning at the University of Toronto, see the University’s H1N1 website at: http://www.preparedness.utoronto.ca/.