ResNet Computer Consultant Absences and Tardiness

Reporting for your entire scheduled ResNet Office shift is a significant responsibility. The students at Saint Mary's College (and their parents) are depending on you to be available to them, answering their questions and making sure that their technology needs are addressed (this includes walking them through solutions to their technical questions, entering all contacts, troubleshooting attempts, and solutions into the ResNet Problem Report Forms, providing hands-on technical support and training as needed, selling Microsoft Campus Agreement software, and referring them to the Associate Director of Technology Support Services when necessary).

Procedure for an excused absence for a ResNet Office shift (requesting a substitute)

1. If you are unable to attend a ResNet Office shift, e-mail rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu in advance to request a substitute.

   Even if you find a substitute for your shift, you are still responsible for covering that shift, so make sure your substitute actually shows up!

The first ResNet Computer Consultant to send a reply to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu agreeing to accept the shift will be the substitute. You should acknowledge her response with a reply (not a new message) to the listserv.

• For instructions on how to reply to a message in Google Mail, click here.
• Make sure that the reply is being sent to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu and not just the RCC accepting to be the substitute for your shift.

2. If you are unable to find a substitute after posting once to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu in advance to request a substitute, post a second time.
3. If you are still unable to find a substitute after posting to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu in advance to request a substitute, please e-mail the Associate Director of Technology Support Services to notify her that you posted twice to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu and were unable to find a substitute and explain why you are unable to work your scheduled shift. This notification must be sent via e-mail - phone calls and texts are not acceptable forms of communication in this situation.

   (If you do not e-mail the Associate Director of Technology Support Services, your absence may be recorded as an unexcused one.)

4. The Associate Director of Technology Support Services will respond to let you know if your absence will be excused or not. Until you receive a response from the Associate Director of Technology Support Services, you should assume any absence from a shift that is not covered by a substitute will be unexcused.

Important notes:

• Please keep in mind that if you (or your substitute) do not show up for a scheduled shift, that means the ResNet Office cannot be open.
• If you are looking for a substitute because of sudden illness, one request for a substitute is acceptable before contacting the Associate Director of Technology Support Services.
• Excused absences for emergencies are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Associate Director of Technology Support Services.
• If you requested a substitute for a scheduled shift, and you did not work during that shift, then the shift should not be listed on your timecard. The Associate Director of Technology Support Services will correct such errors on your timecard before submitting it to Payroll.

Procedure for accepting a ResNet Office shift

1. When a ResNet Computer Consultant posts to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu to request a substitute, you can agree to cover that shift for her by replying to her message. Your message must be sent as a reply to the request, not sent as a new message to the listserv.

   • For instructions on how to reply to a message in Google Mail, click here.
   • Make sure that the reply is being sent to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu and not just the RCC making the request for a substitute.

2. The first ResNet Computer Consultant to send a reply to rcc@lists.saintmarys.edu agreeing to accept the shift will be the substitute. The RCC requesting the substitue should acknowledge the response with a reply (not a new message) to the listserv.
3. You are paid for the substitue shifts that you cover for another RCC. Please make sure that you list the additional hours that you worked on your timecard.
4. Saint Mary's students may not work more than 20 hours a week on campus. It is your responsibility to make sure that you do not exceed the 20 hour limit each week, which includes your regular scheduled shifts, any substitute shifts you pick up, and any other hours you may work elsewhere on campus. If you are close to this 20 hour a week limitation, you may wish to suggest trading shifts instead of picking up the additional hour(s).

Unexcused absences for a ResNet Office shift

• If you did not attend your scheduled ResNet Office shift, did not have a substitute, and did not follow the procedures listed above, your absence will be recorded as unexcused.
• Absences will be excused for academic conflicts and due to illness. Absences for non-academic reasons may or may not be excused, depending on the individual circumstances. (An absence because you are leaving early for a break is an example of an absence that will not be excused unless a substitute for the shift is arranged.)
• According to the Student Employment Policies (you were provided with a version of these policies during your First Year Orientation), "failure to report for scheduled work" can result in probation.
• The policy for ResNet Computer Consultants follows a "three-strike" rule:

1. The first unexcused absence for a scheduled shift or scheduled meeting will result in a warning (verbal, e-mail, or letter from the Associate Director of Technology Support Services). Depending upon the absence (such as a mandatory training meeting), a copy of a written warning may be sent to Financial Aid to be kept in your work record at Saint Mary's College.
2. The second unexcused absence for a scheduled shift or scheduled meeting will result in a written warning from the Associate Director of Technology Support Services. A copy of this written warning will be sent to Financial Aid to be kept in your work record at Saint Mary's College. You will also be on probation as a ResNet Computer Consultant (the length of probation will be determined on a case-by-case basis).

   Probation indicates a period of time that your actions and performance will be monitored closely to verify that you are able to perform you required duties properly. If you are able to demonstrate that your job performance has improved and the issues leading to your probation have been resolved, your probation period will end.

3. The third unexcused absence for a scheduled shift or scheduled meeting will result in dismissal as a ResNet Computer Consultant. You will receive a written letter from the Associate Director of Technology Support Services with an explanation of the dismissal. A copy of the letter will be sent to the CIO and to Financial Aid to be kept in your work record at Saint Mary's College.

On rare occasions, there may be cases where immediate dismissal of a ResNet Computer Consultant is necessary. These cases will be determined by the Associate Director of Technology Support Services in consultation with the CIO and Financial Aid.

Procedure if you need to leave before the end of your shift due to an emergency

1. Send an e-mail to the Associate Director of Technology Support Services or call her (office phone or cell phone) to let her know you are leaving your shift due to an emergency. You may also send her a text message.
2. Within 24 hours (the amount of time is flexible depending on the emergency), please e-mail the Associate Director of Technology Support Services ( khausman@saintmarys.edu) a detailed explanation for why you were unable to work your entire scheduled shift. (If you do not e-mail her with an explanation of your absence, your absence may be recorded as an unexcused one. This is required so there is a written record of your absence. Text messages do not count.)

   Emergencies include sudden illness, deaths in your family, and other College-approved emergencies. Emergencies do not include giving friends a ride to the mall, needing to work on a project, or catching a plane to fly home for break.

Tardiness and "Excessively Late"

"To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late."

This was a favorite quote of a former band teacher, and he used it to refer both to attendance and to music. If your shift is scheduled to start on the hour, that means it starts on the hour. It doesn't mean you breeze in a minute or two after the hour, then take off your coat, then log in to the computer, then get ready to work.

Please be at your shift READY TO WORK when you are scheduled to be there (and stay there until your shift has ended). If you don't know what clock we're following, use the one that is on the ResNet Office computers. The computers are all tied to the same network time server, and the "official" time I use is the one the network time server tells me.

If you're not sure what time it is, I would recommend referencing a cell phone or similar mobile device that has a clock that syncs to a network time server. This way, the time your cell phone has and the time TimeClock has should match.

Disciplinary action will be taken when consultants are "excessively late" to their shift in the past. If a consultant is more than five minutes late clocking into TimeClock, it will be considered "excessively late."

Being "excessively late" can result in disciplinary action, and will follow the same disciplinary actions as unexcused absences. The first time will result in a warning, the second will result in probation, and the third will result in termination as a ResNet Computer Consultant.

One of the responsibilities of your supervisor is to prepare you with skills to work in the "real world." One of the most important things students need to learn while in college is a sense of personal responsibility and accountability. This is a time for you to make and learn from your mistakes in a professional setting, to rely on your own intuition and judgement for making decisions and responding to any consequences that may occur as a result.

When you leave Saint Mary's, you'll be expected to handle a lot of responsibilities you haven't yet encountered. For education majors, you'll have a classroom full of young students that will look up to you and be dependant on you; for nursing majors, you'll have sick people depending on you to help make them well, and in some cases they'll be putting their life in your hands; for business majors, you may face a situation where millions of dollars are at stake; for other majors, a variety of other situations will take place where you'll be expected to take charge and help resolve the situation to the best of your ability.

Being on time to your shift is a small step towards those responsibilities, but students are already depending on you to be available to help them with their computer problems, and you need to be there for them now just as you'll be there for others in the future.

Last modified: July 24, 2014