November 5, 2009
Let it snow — but this you should know
Remember last year’s snow? Of course you do. You remember streets being a mess for days. You remember wishing it would warm up and rain. And probably you remember that the University suspended operations for the three workdays immediately preceding the Dec. 25 holiday — the longest period ever.
The experience generated a fair number of questions to Human Resources. “We recognized that additional information would be helpful,” said Bruce Miller, human resource analyst for HR Administration and Information Systems.
As a result, HR has expanded the information on suspended operations and provided planning tools on its Web site to help managers:
- understand University policy;
- evaluate unit functions and determine whether positions should be designated as essential;
- plan for events that could cause the University to suspend operations;
- communicate expectations to employees;
- understand leave use and compensation.
All this information can be found here.
Approximately 5,000 staff positions are currently designated “essential positions” and are required to continue working during periods of suspended operations. UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, Hall Health Center, Odegaard Undergraduate Library, the University Police Department, and the residence halls all provide services that are considered essential, and they do their best to mitigate any disruptions in service. Many other departments have positions designated as essential on a position-by-position basis.
“It is important for managers to think about job duties that may only occur intermittently in deciding whether a position should be designated as ‘essential'” Miller said. “For example, last year, one of the suspended operations days was payday. That’s probably not a problem for employees with direct deposit, but for those — such as temporary employees — who pick up a paycheck, it was essential for payroll staff to be here. So for certain days of the month, someone may be required to perform essential payroll functions for a department.”
Managers in departments providing “essential services” should be sure to inform employees of their responsibilities in the event that operations are suspended. It is equally important to notify employees in positions that do not provide an essential service that they are not to report to work during suspended operations.
Decisions to suspend operations on the Seattle, Bothell or Tacoma campuses are made independently based on the prevailing conditions in their respective locations. If operations are suspended mid-day (from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), the designated contact in each department (usually a dean or vice president) is responsible for disseminating the information.
Employees can find out whether the University is operating as usual by calling the toll-free emergency information line at 1-866-897-4636, or visiting the UW homepage. Employees can also sign up for UW Alert to receive official information via e-mail or text message on events that may disrupt the normal operation of the UW.
When the weather is causing problems but the University has not suspended operations, the inclement weather policy applies. In those cases, an individual employee may request time off for weather-related difficulties, including commuting problems. The inclement weather policy can be found here.
Employees with questions about the inclement weather and suspended operations policies should contact the Human Resources Operations office that serves their department; find a list of HR Operations offices here.
Information on the HR Web sites includes a checklist of things departments can do to prepare and answers to commonly-asked questions.
“We want to emphasize to employees, especially managers, that they should think ahead and plan for what to do if operations have to be suspended,” Miller said. “Events that cause operations to be suspended often come without warning, so the more you know ahead of time, the better.”
