In Umoja staff members will always be required to mark absence from the office through ESS and staff members will not normally be required to mark their attendance. However, when staff members work outside normal work hours, use flexible work arrangements, or have a contract that only calls on their services for certain days (such as a WAE contract) they will be required to submit their attendance in ESS.
As there will be no record that the staff member worked those hours or days unless they enter the attendance information in the system, staff members and Time Administrators/Time Senior Administrators are advised to be diligent about keeping an accurate attendance record as otherwise it will have an impact on the staff members compensation. If no entry exists, payment will not be made to the staff member.
The type of attendance that must be recorded are:
- Standby/On call – some departments require staff to be on Standby/On call
- Attendance When Actually Employed (WAE) – this is used for WAE entries and must be entered every day that the WAE staff has worked so they will be paid. The staff member needs to be in the 7DAYWAE work schedule in order for all entries, including weekends, to be paid.
- Daily Conference Language Additional Days – this is for conference language staff (daily) that work during the weekends. Normally, the conference language staff is paid based on a 5 day/week schedule but if the staff works on the weekends, this entry needs to be made to allow payments on those days.
- Official Business – is used to record hours/days when the staff member is on official business.
- Floating Holiday: Some duty stations allow staff members to select one day from a predefined set of days as the 10th holiday for that duty station. The other 9 official holiday days are fixed.
The regulations, rules, policies, and standard operating procedures (SOP) governing the topics in this chapter have developed over time. The official documents are easily accessible within the UN intranet.
Staff Regulations and Staff Rules of the United Nations – ST/SGB/2023/1
- WAE – Staff Regulation 1.3 & Staff Rule 1.4
- WAE – ST/SGB/283
- Floating Holidays – Staff Rule 5.2
- Floating Holidays – ST/SGB/2019/6, Section 3
Standby/On call
The time recording for Standby/On call is a transactional activity that allows the staff member and Time Administrator/Time Senior Administrator to enter the actual hours that the staff member was on Standby/On call so that the payments are correct for that time.
When Actually Employed (WAE)
The time recording for WAE is a transactional activity that allows the staff member and Time Administrator/Time Senior Administrator to enter the actual days that a ‘when actually employed’ employee has worked so that payments can be made for the days worked.
Daily Conference Language Additional Days
The time recording for Daily Conference Language Additional Days is a transactional activity that allows the Time Administrator/Time Senior Administrator to enter the actual days that a Conference Language professional worked beyond their normal 5 days so that payments can be made for the additional days worked.
Official Business
The time recording for Official Business is a transactional activity that allows the Time Administrator/Time Senior Administrator to enter the actual days that a staff member is out of the office on official UN business.
Floating holiday
The General Assembly, in its resolution 69/250, recognized the significance of a number of other holidays. Accordingly, in the interest of respecting the diversity of the staff of the United Nations, staff members are given the option of observing one floating holiday. The days of these floating holidays are published every year in the calendar or official holidays published at each duty station.
Staff members should inform their supervisors in advance as early in the year as possible of the floating holiday they wish to observe. Managers are to respect the floating holiday chosen by the staff member. If, owing to exigencies of service, a staff member in the General Service and related categories is required to report for work on the date chosen as the floating holiday, the staff member will be recorded as having taken the floating holiday and compensated for overtime worked on an official holiday. Staff in the Professional and higher categories who are required to work on the date chosen as the floating holiday will not be recorded as having taken the floating holiday and may choose to observe one of the remaining floating holidays.
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