Leave and Absence Management System (LAMS)

refresher session

Nov/Dec 2009

Purpose of the session

• To:– provide an overview of the system and how it’s

working– inform on developments– address common issues– identify areas of good practice – demonstrate how to use the system

Overview of LAMS

• LAMS is an online system launched on 1st July 2009 to log and report sickness absence and the following types of leave: maternity, paternity, adoption, parental, emergency, bereavement, research, leave of absence and unpaid.

• Replaced the need for paper returns to Salaries• Last part of this phase is to implement some reports to

help give an overview of absences• College absences and holidays will be added in later

phases

Overview of LAMS cont....

• Trigger emails– LAMS will automatically send an email to the staff member’s line

manager when a sickness absence is recorded in the following circumstances:

• return to work after sickness absence• 3 or more sickness absences in a 3 month period• 10 intermittent sickness absences in a rolling year• sickness absence for 4+ weeks• if a condition is selected which is mental health-related

(occupational health will also receive an email).

How LAMS is working

• Information is being used by:– individual staff members to view their own absence

information– Payroll to calculate occupational and statutory sick

pay – line managers and Heads of Department to view

absence information via system reports and use this to help manage absence of individuals

– line managers to complete return to work meetings prompted by trigger emails

How LAMS is working cont.....

• Information is being used by:– Occupational Health

• seeing more referrals so can help earlier

• long term sickness is being highlighted to them earlier due to the trigger emails

• managers are being prompted to get in touch

• able to query the system to see how many people have been absent with specific conditions e.g. swine flu

Developments to the system

Developments

• Last Day of Absence field– New field that MUST be completed to close

off absences– Updated in the Dates page

Developments cont…..

• New starters message– Appear on dashboard and your department

structure list until placed in structure– Once assigned to a team, you click on their

name to clear the dashboard reminder

• Monthly e-mail reminder – Sent on 1st of each month to update all

absences by the 5th (except December 3rd)

Common issues

Departmental structure

• Correct line management structure – important so the absence of each individual can

be managed– the right line manager receives the trigger email

• Adding new starters– appear on your dashboard and top of your

structure list until placed in structure– once assigned to a team, click on their name to

clear the dashboard reminder

Long term absences (not maternity)

• To be updated on a weekly basis– LAMS cannot distinguish calendar / work days– actual working days to be input e.g. Mon – Fri– date periods to be added to the existing absence

• Change in condition– date periods should be added to the existing

absence so it is one continuous absence, absence details changed and the notes section updated with the change

Recording half day absences

• Adding further absences to a half day– if an employee has been absent for a half day

then continues to be absent this must be added to the original absence by adding further date periods

– an end date for the half day should be added ensuring the type (am / pm) is selected again

– edit the absence and enter the Start and End dates

Recording Doctors notes

• Notes should be entered onto LAMS

• Original to be sent into Payroll and copies should not be retained

Deadlines for recording sickness absences each month

• By 5th of each month, all sickness absences for the previous month should be recorded

• Absences can only be added / deleted up to the 5th of the following month, so an absence that is entered in October can only be deleted or edited until the 5th of November

• After this date, the system will be locked and Payroll should be contacted to make changes

• Note: 3rd of the month for December only

Deadlines for recording sickness absences cont…

• Note for long term absences– if the absence started in the closed month and

continues into the next month and the date periods have been added as weeks the closed dates for the absence can’t be edited

– dates in the current month can be edited. 

Good Practice

Good practice

• Update LAMS on a daily basis with new absences

• Update long term absences weekly

• Run a payroll report at the beginning of the month for the previous month to check that data on LAMS is up to date

• Ask staff to tell you when they return to work after an absence

Demonstration

Demonstration of LAMS

• To demonstrate how to:– access LAMS– add an absence– edit absences– delete absences

https://apps.dur.ac.uk/lams/

Any questions???

System queries

• Drop in ‘surgery’ 7th December 1-3pm Room CM131A, ITS – one to one help available

• lams@durham.ac.uk

• Frequently asked questions– http://www.dur.ac.uk/hr/policies/absence/lams

/faqsadmin/