I've been reading the postings on this subject with interest. My
department (which like Thomas's is a service department) circulates an
absence list by to all on the staff email list each morning. THis
indicates all the names of staff who are absent and why they are absent.
Indicators include
(s)=sick
(L)=annual leave
(til)=time in lieu
(m)=attending off-campus meeting/conference,
e.g. Jane Bex (s)
Joe Bloggs (m)
From my reading of the recent postings under the DPA this infringes
employees rights, since staff permission was never sought. Most of the
recent discussion seems to have been around wallcharts, what is the
situation with regard to departmental email lists?
Thanks
Jane
PS Apologies if my question is naive, I am not a DP Professional, merely
a researcher who tries to make sure that her research is DP compliant.
________________________________________________________________________
Jane Bex, Liaison Officer, Monitoring and Advisory Unit (MAU), Templeman
Library, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NU
Tel: 01227 827742 Fax: 01227 823984 URL: http://www.mau.ac.uk/ Email:
[log in to unmask]
Colette Healiss wrote:
> I think what Thomas describes is eminently sensible and demonstrates how a
> little co-operation and imagination can tailor a system to the needs of the
> workplace without infringing individual employees rights.
>
> So many of the other posts on this issue seem to view the workplace as a
> hothouse of exploitation which seems a shame. I would have thought most
> decent employers would not try to impose an unacceptable system on their
> staff.
>
> Colette
> St Helens Council
>
>
>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> We have had considerable debate round this subject within the IT Department
> at APU. Because we work across counties and can't easily see who's in, we
> found that support tasks were being assigned to people who were off sick,
> at
> conferences or otherwise generally unavailable.
>
> We already maintain a public leave calendar which also includes some other
> 'events' that take people off-campus. People who are going to be off-campus
> at the last minute, e.g. because the Gas man is coming, or because they're
> sick or a child is sick and they are the sole carer, merely contact our
> admin. Department - preferably before 10:00. The Admin. team then produce a
> combined list of staff who are scheduled to be off-campus and add in staff
> who are unexpectedly off-campus, e.g. because they've phoned in sick. They
> email the list to all staff but without specifying any reasons.
>
> This seems to have overcome most of the reservations that staff had - you
> can't automatically assume that a member of staff who is shown as 'off
> campus' but who isn't down for leave, is therefore sick - they may be
> attending a conference, working from home, or caring for someone else who
> is
> sick.
>
> Kindest regards,
> Thomas.
> ____________________________________________________________________________
>
> Thomas Rochford | Phone: +44 (1223) 363271 (Cambridge)
> Director of C & IT Services | +44 (1245) 493131 (Chelmsford)
> Anglia Polytechnic University | Fax: +44 (1223) 417704 (Cambridge)
> East Road | +44 (1245) 490835 (Chelmsford)
> Cambridge CB1 1PT | EMail: [log in to unmask]
> The University is an Exempt Charity
>
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