You have been contracted to provide services as and when required by Huntswood or the client. As you will typically have been engaged for a short period to deliver a specific engagement, there is normally little tolerance for absences, planned or otherwise. Failure to provide the services as required by Huntswood and/or the client is a breach of contract which may result in the termination of the assignment. As such, it is important that you understand your rights and obligations around absence and what to do if you are unable to provide the services for an extended period of time.

PLANNED ABSENCE

  • You should declare any known absences in advance of agreeing any Huntswood assignment
  • If required, you should liaise with your line manager on any absence requirements throughout the lifetime of an engagement. You should aim to give at least 20 working days’ notice
  • Time off will typically not be permitted during the training and route to competency phases of your engagement. Requests for time off during these periods will be escalated and reviewed. Approval of requests for time off during these initial phases will only be granted in exceptional circumstances
  • Your line manager will work with you on agreeing absences

UNPLANNED ABSENCE

  • You should inform your team leader as soon as practical if you are not attending the engagement on any given day, before to your start time
  • You are expected to keep absence to a minimum and make every effort to meet the obligations of your contract
  • Where absence due to illness is likely to be prolonged, it may be that it’s best to end the engagement and to look to contract through Huntswood in alternate roles, if available, when you are able to re-engage. If this is the case, Huntswood will discuss your options with you

ABSENCE WITHOUT LEAVE (AWOL)

  • Huntswood takes the health and safety of our associates very seriously. We trust that you will notify us of any absence as described above
  • If you do not notify your team leader of an absence (be it planned or unplanned) and do not attend work as expected, Huntswood will be notified and will commence our AWOL process
  • The AWOL process is aimed at ensuring that you are not in any distress and/or requiring help
  • If Huntswood initiates the AWOL process, an employee of Huntswood will take the following steps to locate you:
    • STEP 1: Direct contact (mobile phone/emails) with associate
    • STEP 2: Contact with “in case of emergency” contacts
    • STEP 3: Contact with the Police or other authorities

Remember, the above steps are made only to ensure that you are safe. In order to avoid the extreme circumstances in which we feel it necessary to contact the authorities, we ask that you ensure that you maintain contact with Huntswood and be responsive to our contact.

WORKING HOURS

Huntswood expects associates to operate on a professional hours basis. This may require longer hours in order to complete the allocated tasks and be aware that as a supplier we are often asked to complete vital pieces of work at short notice, therefore flexibility to assist in achieving the client’s aims is expected.

Should you wish to discuss changes your working hours or pattern, you should speak with you line manager, and also ensure that your Huntswood Engagement Manager is kept informed.

TIMESHEETS

You will be required to complete an online Huntswood timesheet, which confirms the time that you work, and the amount of billable days you are claiming per week. This will then be signed off by an approver. Your times must be accurate and reflect the work that you have done. Our standard hours are an average of a minimum of 7.5 hours per billable day.

You can access your timesheet guide online, but as a summary you should complete:

  • Your start times - this should represent your actual daily start time (not a cut and paste from the previous day)
  • Your end times – this should represent your actual daily end time
  • Your breaks – this should be a total of all breaks taken in a day. Huntswood rules state you should take a minimum of one break of 30 minutes per working day. Any additional breaks should be added to this total
  • The amount of days you are billing per day/week

At the end of each week you must submit their timesheet for approval, and no later than 10am on the following Monday. Late submission may affect your pay. You cannot be paid without approved timesheets.


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