Supporting healthy work-life balance for all

The University has various policies in place to support staff in achieving a successful work-life balance.

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and all its institutions on Easter Bush Campus are dedicated to making sure that access to these policies is fair and transparent.

Annual leave

Staff on grades 1-5 with less than five years' continuous service are entitled to 32 days of annual leave, including public holidays. Staff on grades 1-5 with more than five years' continuous service and staff on grades 6-10 are entitled to 36 days, including public holidays.

From January 2024 staff on grades 1-10 will all be entitled to 36 days including public holidays.

The holiday year runs from 1 January to 31 December and in addition to annual leave, staff are entitled to four public holidays when the University is closed around the festive period in December and January.

If you work part-time, are joining during the year or are leaving us throughout the year, your annual leave entitlement will be calculated on a pro rata basis. Full information on annual leave can be found on the main HR webpage.

If you are ill whilst on annual leave you should make your line manager or local HR aware as they will adjust your record to ensure this is taken as sick days as opposed to a holiday.

Other leave

Special leave is available for instance to cover an emergency, unforeseen circumstances related to family or home life, training, or to assist in public life, such as jury service.

The HR leave and absence options link below provides a useful overview of the various leave options available. Details can be read in the full policy. Entitlements are pro rata for part time staff in some cases.

Flexible working

Employees who meet the eligibility criteria have a statutory right to request flexible working, such as condensed hours. This may also include, for example, one of the family leave policies.

Some variations in working patterns may be possible without application of the formal policy. This may include working from home if suitable on certain days, or a change in working pattern to suit a particular period of life such as change in childcare support during school holidays.

However, to ensure that the needs of the University are met it may not always be possible to accommodate a request. All details relating to flexible working can be found in the formal policy linked below. Please speak to your line manager or local HR team for further advice.

Hybrid working

Hybrid working applies to all employees of the University who hold roles that can be performed in part off-campus. The amount of time a member of staff can work from home depends on a variety of factors including the needs of the business, team, nature of the role and individual staff members.

The University has a Hybrid Workplace Policy. Flexibility and staff wellbeing are at the heart of the approach and the campus remains the centre of gravity. Please discuss with your manager in the first instance.

Workload

If you have any concerns about your current workload please speak to your line manager for advice and support.

The University also offers various courses and information sources on how to achieve better workload planning, such as “Focus, Plan, Attack!” training, which is bookable through MyEd. The learning and development pages contain toolkits and eLearning modules relating to a variety of areas such as leadership, time management and career development skills.

Core working hours

Meetings on campus should be held between 10am and 4pm, to allow colleagues flexibility in organising their time to get to Easter Bush Campus. This is especially important for people with caring responsibilities.

Support for carers

Grants are available to cover for childcare costs for parents attending conferences in support of their research programme and career development. Staff can apply for support for instance for home-based childcare expenses and travel of a care provider to their home or to a conference. Further information can be found through the ‘Related links’ section.

An Arcadia nursery on campus provides care for children from birth to five years old, and soft play and external areas for children of all age groups.