Housing programs
Depending on where you're coming from, you may find the Vancouver or Kelowna housing markets a big change. We can help.
Workplace learning opportunities
UBC's workplace learning and engagement team offers a wide range of development and learning solutions for the individual, the team or the organization as a whole.
Eligibility and enrolment
UBC offers an extensive benefits program for our employees and their eligible dependents.
Professional Development Funding
Funding is available to several employee groups to support access to learning opportunities that enhance knowledge, work performance, and career growth at UBC.
Leadership programs
Cultivate your skills as a leader at UBC with academic leadership development, training for managers, and Conflict Theatre programs.
Winter leave
Am I eligible for paid leave between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day*?
The length of time you are allowed to take depends on your employee group. The table below shows the time you are allowed to be on leave.
| UBC Employee Group | Allowed Length of Winter Leave |
| Administrative Executive | To offset the significant number of hours you work beyond your usual job requirements, you may be granted these three days as leave with pay if you are normally scheduled to work between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. |
| BCGEU Vancouver (Child Care) | Not eligible. |
| BCGEU Okanagan | Regular employees: you are granted three additional days leave of absence with pay per calendar year as Winter Leave. These days may be used during the three working days during the winter holiday season (between Boxing and New Year’s Day). These days may alternatively be used at other times during the year subject to reasonable timing of notice and operational requirements. Auxiliary employees: you are entitled to one day of paid leave as follows:
Those employees who are designated to remain on duty on the Christmas floater (in keeping with operational requirements) shall receive a day off in lieu within the following 12 months. |
| CUPE 116 | If you are normally scheduled to work between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, you will be granted these three days as leave with pay, unless you are required to be at work for operational reasons. If this applies to you, you will be eligible for three paid leave days at another time. Pay grades for employees within Food Services include a 1% wage differential in lieu of the provisions of Article 18.10 and are therefore not entitled to Paid Leave Between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. |
| CUPE 2278 | Not eligible. |
| CUPE 2950 | If you are normally scheduled to work between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, you will be granted these three days as leave with pay, unless you are required to be at work for operational reasons. If this applies to you, you will be eligible for three paid leave days at another time. If you are a Hiring Solutions employee, eligibility for Winter Leave is based on the Letter of Understanding (LOU) #7 of the CUPE 2950 Collective Agreement |
| Executive Administrative | If you are normally scheduled to work between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, you will be granted these three days as leave with pay, unless you are required to be at work for operational reasons. If this applies to you, you will be eligible for three paid leave days at another time. |
| IUOE 115 | If you are normally scheduled to work, you will be granted three days’ leave of absence with pay to be taken between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day unless you are required to work for operational reasons. If so, you will be paid at straight time and granted three paid leave of absence days at some mutually agreeable time between December and February. This also applies to shift employees. |
| Management & Professional | To offset the significant number of hours you work beyond your usual job requirements, you may be granted these three days as leave with pay if you are normally scheduled to work between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. |
| Non-Union Technicians and Research Assistants | If you are normally scheduled to work, you will be granted three days’ leave of absence with pay to be taken between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day unless you are required to work for operational reasons. If so, you will be granted three paid days off at some other mutually agreeable time. |
| Postdoctoral Fellows (Award Recipients) | May be arranged with the supervisor or head. |
| Post-doctoral Fellows (Employees) | May be arranged with the supervisor or head. |
*The period after the Christmas/Boxing Day statutory holidays and before New Year’s Day was previously referred to as a holiday closure, seasonal closure or Christmas leave.
Preparing the job description
A well-defined job description helps attract qualified candidates and streamlines the recruitment process.
A clear, well-structured Job Description (JD) outlines the responsibilities, qualifications and expectations associated with a role. It serves as the primary reference for both the hiring team and the applicants. Crafting an accurate and clear JD ensures that potential candidates understand the role they’re applying for, leading to a better fit for both the organization and the individual.
Considerations in preparing a job description
- Review comparative job descriptions posted on the Careers site.
- Build the JD around the required work and keep it clear and concise.
- Ensure that qualifications and duties are listed in order from most to least important.
- Consider that candidates must meet all the minimum qualifications, which are standard across all positions of the same classification. When building a JD, it is important to have enough (but not too many) qualifications in your job description.
- Be mindful about how you plan to assess qualifications. Experience, education and certifications are typically assessed via applications while other qualifications are assessed via tests, interviews and references.
- Job descriptions are meant to be designed around the actual work required, not individuals. Refrain from building job descriptions tailored to individuals or that reflect future responsibilities.
- The position should be reviewed to determine if a background check (criminal, credit, credential, drivers abstract, vulnerable sector check, etc.) is required as it will be important for the job posting, post-interview checks and job offer. Review guidance on background checks or contact your Departmental HR Representative to discuss.
- Some position , including M&P roles, require additional review and approval by an HR Compensation Consultant. Please ensure to factor this into your timelines when creating a position.
New versus existing roles
Before writing or reviewing the JD, you will need to determine if the position is new or existing. If it’s an existing position, confirm details and update if needed. View the Edit Position Restrictions Knowledge Base (CWL required) for instructions on how to edit existing positions.
If it’s a new position, you will need the following information:
- Supervisory Organization
- Business Title
- Employee Group
- Work Location
- Full-time or Part-time
- Job Type and Job Family
Creating a position in Workday
New positions will need to be created in Workday. View the Create Position Knowledge Base Article (CWL required) for instructions on how to create a position in Workday. When the Job Description is complete, ensure you attach it to your Workday requisition.
For general Workday resources and help, visit the Integrated Service Centre.
Security roles
When creating new positions, you must also request to add the appropriate HR or Finance security roles to that position if required. Security roles are required to access, initiate and approve HR and Finance information and processes in Workday. Employees who only require basic self-service functionality do not require an additional security role.
For more information, review the Security Role Request Process knowledge base (CWL required).
Once these steps have been finalized, you can open the position for the recruitment/hiring process.
Resources for preparing the job description
In order to prepare everything you need to create your job description, ensure you review the following information prior to getting started:
- Review the Staff Job Evalutation page to ensure consistent and transparent classification decisions are made about positions
- Review the Staff Job Families page for occupational guidelines or benchmarks for specific employee groups
Writing a strong job description
Follow these best practices when writing a job description:
- Be clear and concise. Avoid jargon, acronyms, abbreviations or vague phrasing.
- Use non-discriminatory language.
- Focus on duties and qualifications, not personal traits.
- Write the JD based on the role as it exists today.
- Align qualifications to actual job duties.
- Order responsibilities from most to least important.
- Use action verbs (e.g. “Coordinate”, “Manage”, “Support”).
Writing a clear and accurate job description for a position is an important first step to recruiting the candidate best suited to your needs.
Job description template
Follow the sections of the job description template, below. Please ensure that you include the general EDI statement at the top of your JD, along with the two EDI qualification statements that appear in the 'Minimum Qualifications' section.
UBC's employee groups and cost of benefits explained
The employee group is listed on the job posting and tells you which union represents the position, or if it is non-unionized. Salary scales and benefits packages are also determined by employee group.
Faculty bargaining
The following principles and values guide and inform the University’s preparation of its proposals and our response to the Faculty Association’s proposals in this round of negotiations.
Principles and values:
- Encourage, inspire and value the highest standards for the University – the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty is critical to the University’s ability to meet its vision of excellence;
- Honour and foster the essential mandate of the faculty: student learning, excellence in teaching, contribution to knowledge through scholarly activity and community engagement;
- Protect UBC’s bicameral governance system, as provided for in the University Act;
- Recognize that the University is a complex, diverse and decentralized organization, and that departments and faculties have developed different approaches and different practices which reflect their diverse disciplines and histories;
- Adopt a fair and rational approach in the context of a requirement to honour contractual commitments;
- Strive for simplicity, transparency and clarity in the wording of our agreements, and streamline processes that are put in place;
- Ensure flexible and discretionary means to address faculty retention issues;
- Recognize that there are different ways of rewarding merit – compensation is only one;
- Strike a balance between collegiality and shared governance with UBC’s responsibilities as a university and the Faculty Association’s responsibilities as a union;
- Understand that collective bargaining decisions are influenced by the University’s need to exercise fiscal responsibility and respect government constraints;
- Bear in mind that commitments made today have implications for the future.
- Conduct our negotiations at the table; not through the media;
- Respect the roles of those we bargain with and the concerns of those they bargain for – our faculty members.
Calculating years in rank
For new tenure/tenure track faculty, lecturers and professorial ranks appointments without review.
It is UBC’s practice to count years in an equivalent rank at another institution or equivalent experience in determining where a new appointee should begin on the career progress increment (CPI) scale for the purpose of salary increases. Applicable ranks include all tenured/confirmed, tenure track/probationary and without review appointments, and Lecturers (not including Sessional Lecturers). A Years in Rank form should be completed for every new appointment that has prior service.
An equivalent rank should include ranks with equivalent experience; for example, a new Assistant Professor at UBC would be considered to have previous years in rank if they had previous experience in teaching, research and service in previous appointments. If the new hire does not have all three areas of experience then the experience is not equivalent.
It is necessary that the number of years in an equivalent rank be determined at the time of hire, and communicated to the new appointee in writing, preferably in the offer letter so that the new hire can indicate acceptance with their placement on the CPI scale. Alternately you can provide a copy of the completed Years in Rank form.
This process is important to ensure that starting salaries are appropriate. It is also an important step to ensure that all appointees are treated fairly and to avoid future salary anomalies and inequities; new appointees with prior experience who are placed at the bottom of the CPI scale are placed at an advantage over new appointees whose experience is solely at UBC.
If you have any questions regarding this procedure, contact Faculty Relations.
Appointment checklist
We’ve created checklists of documentation that is required for specific faculty appointments, changes and leaves.
Please ensure that all the attachments are included for the appropriate business process.