HR UK – Time Away From Work Policy
Purpose
We recognise that you may need to take leave for compassionate reasons, to deal
with domestic crises, unexpected events or to undertake public duties. We want to
assist you when facing these issues and therefore we provide both paid and unpaid
leave for a variety of situations in addition to your holiday entitlements. This policy
covers all time away from work other than sickness related absences and family leave.
Scope
This policy is effective from March 2021 and is non-contractual, entirely discretionary
and can be amended or changed at anytime. It applies to employees of AstraZeneca
UK Ltd, MedImmune Ltd and MedImmune UK Ltd.
Important - guidance on this page does not apply to AstraZeneca SA91
Macclesfield employees. Please refer to SA91 holiday guidance.
Responsibilities
All leave should be recorded in Workday
Main Information
Holiday Guidelines and Procedures
Regular holidays are important to ensure we relax and rejuvenate. They enable us to
maintain our health and wellbeing and manage our work/life demands and planned
events.
You are given a holiday balance (core annual holiday entitlement) at the start of every
holiday year (1 July – 30 June) and we encourage you to take holiday across the
course of the year so that you get meaningful rest from work.
Core Annual Holiday Entitlement
AstraZeneca employees are entitled to the following core holiday
Core annual holiday entitlement
182.5 hours/25 days - this is pro-rated for
part time employees
What about bank holidays?
Full time employees are entitled to eight bank holidays per year which are not
recorded in Workday.
Part time employees have their pro-rated bank holidays included within their
core annual holiday entitlement and these are recorded in Workday.
MedImmune Employees are entitled to the following core holiday
Core annual holiday entitlement
187.5 hours/25 days - this is pro-rated for
part time employees
What about bank holidays?
Full time employees are entitled to eight bank holidays per year which are not
recorded in Workday.
Part time employees have their pro-rated bank holidays included within their
core annual holiday entitlement and these are recorded in Workday.
MedImmune Speke (Shift Workers) employees are entitled to the following core
holiday
Core annual holiday entitlement
276 hours (23 days) - this is pro-rated for
part time employees
Arrangements for bank holidays vary, so please check local practices.
Please read and be aware of the following:
Any unused holiday will not be paid for, except if you are leaving the company
and have been unable to take your full entitlement. Please read carry over
guidance in this article
Your holiday entitlement is shown in hours and minutes, which is the unit of
time measurement used in Workday. (Note: 0.5 equates to 30 minutes and not
50 minutes).
Your department may have local practices on booking and authorising holidays,
but as a general principle you should book holidays in Workday as early as
possible. Your manager will approve your holiday requests subject to business
needs and in line with local practice.
Business areas/sites will determine and communicate Christmas working
arrangements. If your business area/site closes over the Christmas and New
Year period, you will need to book holiday in Workday so you must ensure you
have sufficient holiday to cover this.
If you change your contractual weekly working hours, this will affect your holiday
entitlement.
Please read the Sickness Absence policy and Family Friendly Policy to
understand how they may affect your holiday arrangements.
Points to note if you work part-time:
If you work part-time, your core annual holiday entitlement, any bought days,
any service recognition holidays, any carried over holidays and your pro-rated
bank holiday entitlement are shown in your Workday holiday balance. Watch
this short video to understand how you check your holiday balance.
Part time employees have their pro-rated bank holidays included within their
core annual holiday entitlement. You need to book bank holidays as holiday in
Workday if they fall on one of your normal working days.
If you are a new starter:
If you join the company part way through the holiday year (1 July – 30 June)
you will receive a proportion of your core annual holiday entitlement. This will
be calculated in Workday.
Holiday if you are leaving the company:
If you’re leaving the company, all your holiday entitlement will be pro-rated
depending on your leave date and you should use this entitlement before you
leave.
If you are unable to take your holiday before you leave you will be paid for any
accrued, but unused, holiday entitlement.
If you have taken more than your entitlement up to the date of leaving this will
be deducted from your final pay.
To calculate your remaining holiday, please use the holiday calculator.
Holiday Buy
We recognise that sometimes your core annual holiday entitlement isn’t enough,
therefore you can buy up to an additional two times your contractual weekly working
hours via My Reward during the annual benefits enrolment cycle (you have to confirm
in My Reward that your manager is aware of your holiday buy before you buy extra
hours). Look out for your annual My Reward invitation each June where you can buy
additional holiday.
Service Recognition Holidays
You will also receive extra holiday when you reach five and ten years’ service. For
more information please read the Service Recognition policy.
Holiday Carry Over
All UK employees can automatically carryover holiday at the end of the holiday year
(June 30 2021). Carryover can be made up of core, service or purchased holiday. This
carryover is automatic and you won’t require line manager approval.
Automatic Carryover
Full
-
time AZ employee
36.5 hours/5 days
Full
-
37.5 hours/5 days
Full-time MedImmune Speke (Shift
Workers)
48 hours/4 shifts
Pro-rated for part-time employees.
Carried over holiday needs to be taken before the end of the next holiday year. If you
have holiday days or hours over and above those in the table above in your holiday
balance at the end of the holiday year these will be lost. It is therefore important you
work with your line manager to plan your holidays carefully to avoid losing time.
There is a maximum holiday balance UK employees can have at the start of each
holiday year. Please see the table below in which we outline the maximum each
employee group is entitled to:
Entitlement
Full-time
AstraZeneca
employee
Full-time
MedImmune
employee
Full-time
MedImmune Speke
(shift-worker)
employee
Core
entitlement
182.5 hours/25 days
187.5 hours/25
days
276 hours/23 shifts
Service
recognition (if
relevant)
Max 14.6 hours/2
days
Max 15 hours/2
days
24 hours/2 shifts
Bought
holidays
73 hours/10 days 75 hours/10 days 96 hours/8 shifts
Automatic
Carryover
36.5 hours/5 days 37.5 hours/5 days 48 hours/4 shifts
MAX TOTAL 306.6 hours/ 42 days
315 hours/42 days 444 hours/37 shifts
There are only 4 reasons for requesting exceptional carryover (carryover in
addition to the automatic 5 days/4 shifts)
If you have spent a significant portion of the year on long term sickness absence
and therefore have a large number of holiday days which you have not been
able to use
If have been on Family Friendly leave in the holiday year or returned just before
the new holiday year began and therefore have a large number of holiday days
which you have not been able to use
One off, once in a lifetime holiday opportunities (with +1 manager approval)
Where the business has been so busy you have been asked to defer holidays
(with +1 manager approval)
Temporary ‘COVID-19 exceptional carryover’ rules
If you have been unable to take holiday because you have been asked by the company
to give up holiday plans to cover work or shifts as a result of COVID-19* you are eligible
for ‘exceptional carryover’. This means:
You can carry over up to 20 days of your holiday balance (4 weeks), these 20
days should include the 5 days/4 shifts of automatic carryover.
Exceptional carryover holidays as a result of COVID-19 activity should be taken
before the end of the 2022/2023 holiday year. Your manager will work with you
to ensure holiday is spread across this period with the least disruption to the
business.
See below for instructions on how to action this exceptional carryover. Your manager
approval will need to clearly state that you have been directly asked to cancel or defer
holiday plans as a result of COVID-19.
How do I action my exceptional carryover request?
Please contact My HR to arrange this, you will need to:
1. Raise a case through the HR Portal with ‘Additional carry over’ in the heading
field. In the body of the form please confirm how many hours you would like to
carry over and why.
2. You must include approval from your line manager and line manager +1 (in the
same case) and it will need to be clear you have been directly asked to cancel
or give up holiday plans as a result of one of the exceptional reasons outlined
above.
3. Please submit your request by 30 June
4. Each request is reviewed by a member of the My HR team, therefore the more
information you are able to provide the more efficient this process will be.
To ensure holiday balances during this time are manageable, if you have exceptional
carryover (exceeding 5 automatic carryover days) please carefully consider whether
you need to buy additional holidays through My Reward during the 2021 benefits
renewal.
* Note, Workday has not yet been updated to reflect the carryover changes
communicated in March 2021.
If you have further questions please go to Holiday Principles Frequently Asked
Questions.
Personal, Emergency and Compassionate Leave
Once approved by your manager, these leave types should be recorded in workday
by requesting time off.
Personal leave
We all have significant one-off life events that we would like to celebrate, and we will
support you at these times by providing up to one occasion of paid leave a year. You
may wish to use this for your wedding/civil partnership, when you move house, or for
your graduation from University. As these events are planned well in advance we ask
you to request the leave as early as possible. This is discretionary, and your manager
will discuss any reasons for declining your request with you.
Emergency & Dependant Leave
When faced with an emergency we need the flexibility to be able to manage any
unplanned emergency events. To support you with this you can take up to two
occasions of paid leave a year for you to deal with the situation and put a longer term
solution in place, if required. The type of situation you may require this leave for could
be due to a domestic emergency such as a breakdown in childcare, a serious incident
involving a dependant, a burglary, flood or fire at home. If you need to take time off in
an emergency contact your manager as soon as possible and let them know what has
happened and how much time off you are likely to need. If you need a bit longer your
manager can authorise some unpaid leave, normally up to five occasions or you could
book holiday.
Compassionate Leave
If you are in the unfortunate situation of dealing with a distressing personal situation
we want to be able to support you. We provide up to 10 occasions or 2 weeks of paid
leave a year to enable you to take time away from work if you suffer the loss of a
dependant or partner, a child (including a still birth [after 24 weeks of pregnancy]),
parent or chosen family member or if you are impacted by a serious injury or illness
suffered by them. It can also be granted to attend a funeral or memorial service for
other chosen family members. Contact your manager as soon as possible if you need
to take time off.
Remember you can use the free confidential Employee Assistance Programme for
practical and emotional assistance on a wide range of day-to-day issues. They can be
contacted on 0800 072 1425 or to be supported online via My Reward.
Gender Reassignment
We will support employees requiring time off for gender reassignment. Please speak
to your manager or your HR Business Partner so we can understand what support
and time off you require.
Public and Community Duties
Once approved by your manager, these leave types should be recorded in workday
by requesting time off.
Public Duties
Employees holding certain public positions will require a reasonable amount of unpaid
leave, normally up to 10 occasions a year, to fulfil their public duties. You will need to
give your manager as much notice as possible if you require time off. These positions
are:
o Magistrate (also known as a justice of the peace)
o Local councillor
o Member of any statutory tribunal e.g. an employment tribunal
o Member of the managing or governing body of an educational establishment/
Member of a school council or board in Scotland
o Member of a health authority
o Member of the Environment Agency or the Scottish Environment Protection
agency
o Member of the prison independent monitoring boards (England or Wales) or a
member of the prison visiting committees (Scotland)
o Member of Scottish Water or a Water Customer Consultation Panel
o Trade union member (for trade union duties)
Jury Service
If you are asked to do jury service, please inform your manager as soon as you receive
the notification. There may be rare situations where your manager may ask you to
defer your jury service, where you are working on a critical work activity. This can only
be done once, and should be in exceptional circumstances. You will be given paid
leave to attend and may claim and retain travelling and subsistence allowances
provided by the court. You may not be required to attend court every day, if this is the
case you should come into work.
Court Appearance
If you are required to attend court as a witness, speak to your manager or contact My
HR for advice as the circumstances as to whether this is paid or unpaid time off vary.
Volunteering
Volunteering can make a significant difference to others and the sense of achievement
can have positive benefits to our health. We want to get as many people as possible
to come together to volunteer in our local communities and therefore you are
encouraged to take one paid occasion per year to undertake volunteering activities in
UK charities and not-for-profit organisations. You can find out more by visiting
the ivolunteer site.
STEM activities such as the Big Bang events are covered by this policy but additional
STEM activities which form part of your role at work are excluded from this policy, as
these will be part of your paid employment and therefore you may be expected to
undertake more volunteering per year.
Reservists
The Voluntary Reserve Forces comprise the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Marines
Reserve, the Army Reserve and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. If you are a member of
one of these forces you will be given five days paid leave and five days unpaid leave
per year to undertake training. Notify your manager as early as possible if you are
required to take time off to undertake training exercises.
If you are called up (mobilised) speak to your manager or contact My HR immediately
for advice.
For more information view the FAQ's document.
Extended unpaid leave
Once approved, the following leave types should be recorded in Workday by
requesting leave of absence. Leave requests of 1 week or more should be recorded
across all applicable calendar days including weekends, non working days and public
holidays. Please ensure you adjust the first day of leave and estimated last day of
leave to reflect this where necessary. Where continuous days have not been selected,
this will be corrected by payroll.
Time Out Leave
We recognise you may wish to take an extended break away from work for any number
of reasons be it a career break, further study, travel or for personal reasons. If you
have worked for us for at least one year you can request between 4 weeks and six
months unpaid leave. In some circumstances, this can be extended to 12-months
leave. You should discuss this well in advance with your manager and they will do
their best to accommodate the request.
If your manager is unable to accommodate your request, they will discuss the reason
with you.
If your manager supports your request, they will confirm all the arrangements for your
time out leave in writing. You will need to review the impact on your benefits during
your unpaid leave, so you should refer to Benefits during Time Out leave information.
You will usually be able to return to your original role but if that is not possible, you will
return to a role which has the same status, terms and conditions as before. The
Company hopes that in the vast majority of cases, you will return to your original role,
but any unforeseen circumstances will be discussed with you.
Parental Leave
If your reason for taking an extended break away from work is to fulfil your parental
responsibilities, then you have the right to take a period of up to 18 weeks’ unpaid
leave for each child or adopted child up to their 18th birthday.
If you have worked for us for at least one year you can request up to four weeks unpaid
leave per child per year. The leave should be taken in blocks of one week, but any
period of less than a week is counted as a whole week. If you are caring for a disabled
child, single days can be taken.
You should discuss any request as far in advance as possible with your manager, but
at least 21 days before you would like to take the leave. Your manager will consider
the request in line with business needs. They will do their best to accommodate the
request but if they can’t they will discuss the reason with you and look to postpone it
to another suitable date.
You’ll need to consider the impact on your benefits during parental leave so you should
refer to Benefits during Parental Leave information.
If your parental leave is for less than four weeks you have the right to return to your
original role. If your leave is over four weeks or combined with
Maternity/Adoption/Shared Parental Leave or Time Out Leave, you will usually return
to your original role or, if that is not possible, to a role which has the same status,
terms and conditions as before. The Company hopes that in the vast majority of cases,
you will return to your original role.
You can consider combining parental leave with Time out leave if you wish to take a
longer period of unpaid leave, always speak to your manager before making any plans.