Important Reminder: Ensure ALL absences are recorded in eHR

It's really important to ensure that all employee absences are recorded in eHR. We know that in such a busy environment, administrative tasks such as inputting and approving time can seem insignificant to managers, but there are several crucial reasons to do so.

As a manager, it's your responsibility to ensure that employees are taking their vacation and that it's accurately recorded so that all parties are aware of vacation balances. For your benefit, vacations for your department staff are displayed on a calendar in eHR, allowing you to better manage your resources. For the employee's benefit, they will see their vacation balance when requesting so they know how much they're entitled to. In addition, there are rules around how much vacation can be carried over years, and it would be disappointing to lose vacation simply because too much time has lapsed. Ensuring your employees take vacation is an issue of work life balance, as well as a legal requirement and a good management principle.

Finally, the university requires this information as it is reported to auditors every year in our vacation liability report. This information is an important part of the picture of how Ryerson is doing, financially speaking. You need to do your part to limit the University's liability by making sure employees take vacation and that the information reported to auditors is accurate.

Neglecting to input absences into eHR can have financial consequences for the employee and the University. For example, there have been cases where employees separate from Ryerson and there is no record of vacation taken, sometimes going back several years. It is extremely difficult to calculate how much vacation pay is owed when we have to rely on people's memories of when vacation was taken!

Regarding sick leave, there have been cases where HR is not made aware of long term absences, which results in delays in the employee receiving much needed benefits. In many cases, long term absences could have been avoided by identifying where we can offer support or connect employees with resources that can help. Inputting absences into eHR allows you as a manager to identify patterns or length of absences to determine if intervention is necessary. Your HR Management Consultant (HRMC) can offer you guidance in such a situation.

For online learning on time and absence reporting, please visit www.ryerson.ca/ehr/selfservice/time_absence. For questions or concerns, your HRMC is a valuable resource and we encourage you to give them a call.