From 2 January 2019 you will be able to request annual leave and record sickness absence through Staff Connect.  For managers, there will be a new calendar view showing staff leave and attendance.

This is part of the roll out of further enhancements to Staff Connect. The aim of this system is to streamline our HR processes and extend employee and manager self-service, providing a one-stop-shop for as many HR activities as possible.

The HR and Payroll software functions introduced in 2017 gave you online access to your payslips and HR e-records.  The second phase of Staff Connect in 2018 has seen the introduction of further functionality, and you can now book online for training provided by the corporate Learning & Organisational Development Team as well as record your appraisal (RPD).

With the roll out of this new module, requests for annual leave will be automatically forwarded to line managers to authorise. If your line-manager does not usually authorise your annual leave, they can delegate this responsibility to another member of their team. User guides for both managers and staff regarding delegation set up and management are available on the Staff Connect Delegation page.

As well as booking annual leave, sickness absence will be reported and recorded via Staff Connect. You will be able to securely upload any doctors’ notes or medical certificates into the system which will reduce the amount of sensitive personal data that is currently recorded on paper and sent via internal mail.

For colleagues in European centres, local arrangements will continue as usual.

If you have any questions about Staff Connect and the launch of this new module, there is guidance, including a frequently asked questions section, on the Staff Connect website. Thanks go to all staff who have taken part in user testing sessions and given feedback which has informed the FAQs.

To find out more about using Staff Connect request annual leave or record sickness absence, please come to one of the demo and drop-in sessions available for all staff and line managers. Please go to the HR webpages to find out more. Online user guides and videos will also be available before January.

This is the latest update in the Staff Connect Phase 2 project. The new staff recruitment system, replacing i-Grasp, will go live in late January. If you have any questions about the project, please contact staffconnect@kent.ac.uk