The annual training for the safe release of trapped passengers is scheduled for 17 January.

This means that lifts in the following buildings will be out of service for short periods of time:

• Becket court
• Cornwallis Octagon
• Cornwallis East
• Tyler Court A
• Sibson (Maths reception)
• Sibson Platform lift
• Woolf College
• Jarman
• Sports Pavilion (new)
• Turing Hut 8
• Kent Union Parkwood Student Hub

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will endeavour to keep any disruption to a minimum. If you have any queries, please contact Estates Customer Services on ext 16666.

Phil Whittall
Head of Maintenance, Estates Department

The Student Success Staff Seminar due to take place Wednesday 16 January 2019, Medway Campus, Pilkington Building Room 127, 1pm-2pm will be rescheduled. It has come to our attention that this seminar clashes with several other Medway events. We will be in contact shortly with a new date.

The Canterbury event Friday 18 January 2019, Canterbury Campus, Keynes Seminar Room 13, 1pm-2pm will still go ahead.

The University of Kent’s Annual Learning and Teaching Conference takes place on Monday 17 June.

This year’s conference will be focusing on interaction and inclusivity in learning and teaching, and we are inviting proposals for workshops, discussion papers, mini-presentations and posters from Kent staff involved in teaching or supporting students’ learning.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is 28 February. You can find more details of the theme and arrangements, and a straightforward and friendly booking form.

The Annual Learning and Teaching Conference is open to all who are interested in celebrating our excellent teaching at Kent, improving our support for students’ learning, sharing good practice, and trying out new ideas. It’s a welcoming space for us to think, talk and learn together; but we know the impact lasts much longer than the day itself. From previous conferences have come successful funding bids, published papers, collaborative research, and changes to practice – last year, for instance, our keynote presentation inspired several schools to try out new approaches to student induction.

To book a place on the conference please complete the online booking form.

Since 2 January 2019, staff have been able to request annual leave and record sickness absence through Staff Connect; the University’s integrated HR and Payroll system.

This is part of the continuing development of Staff Connect which aims to streamline our HR processes and extend employee and manager self-service, providing a one-stop-shop for as many HR activities as possible.

If you have any questions about Staff Connect and the launch of this new module, there is guidance and support available, including;

• Support sessions – available in January and February 2019
• Overview for managers of annual leave and absence management
• User guides for employees
• User guides for managers
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Who to contact for further support (pdf)

There are a couple of recurring questions that we thought it would be useful to highlight:

Bank holidays and customary days

• Your annual leave includes your entitlement for bank holidays and customary days and any carry over hours that we were told about in December.
• For full-time staff, bank holidays and customary days have been automatically deducted, however it is your responsibility to check the details entered are correct and amend if necessary (for instance, for staff who work a shift pattern across Bank Holidays)
• For part-time staff, holiday bookings need to be made for all bank holidays and customary days that you would have worked. Although the bank holidays are greyed out in the calendar (to make them easier to spot) you are still required to book leave on these days.
• When you request annual leave you will be asked to enter the hours you would normally be working on that day or days. That number of hours will then be deducted from your remaining annual leave entitlement.
• A report has now been made available to managers to allow them to review Bank Holiday and Customary Day bookings made by their team.
• Any 2019 leave which was already authorised via local systems or arrangements now needs to be requested through Staff Connect.

Annual leave entitlement for seconded staff
Staff Connect calculates annual leave based on your current role. Unfortunately this means that staff on secondment cannot book annual leave for their substantive role until they return to their post. We are currently looking into whether this can be amended.

Sick leave
All new sickness absences need to be entered in Staff Connect. Any absence which started before 2 January 2019 should be managed via Payroll.

Team calendar view 
We have temporarily removed the ‘view team calendar’ button as it is not showing the correct information. The issue has been raised with our suppliers as a matter of urgency.

‘My View Session Ended’ message
This message occurs for some users. This issue has also been raised with our suppliers. If you get this message and cannot enter absence you can ask your manager to do it on your behalf.

This is the latest update in the Staff Connect Phase 2 project. The new staff recruitment system, replacing i-Grasp, will go live in February.