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 GroupAllowed Length of Winter Leave
Administrative ExecutiveTo 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:

  • on Dec. 24, when Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or a Saturday;
  • on Dec. 27, when Christmas Day falls on a Monday or a Wednesday;
  • on Dec. 28, when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.

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 2278Not 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 AdministrativeIf 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 115If 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 & ProfessionalTo 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 AssistantsIf 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.

Next steps

After preparing and reviewing your job description, the next step in the process is establishing a selection committee.

 

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.

 

A to Z Guide for items related to Faculty appointments

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Faculty honoraria and administrative stipends

Honoraria may be available to faculty members, and Administrative Stipends may be paid in recognition of formal administrative appointments.

Honoraria

Honoraria may be available to faculty members with salary for teaching overload, research, or for additional administrative duties.

Processing honoraria payments

Honoraria can be paid as a lump sum, or spread over a relevant period of time. For unpaid appointments, see the note near the top of this page.

When processing an honorarium payment there must be sufficient back-up that provides an explanation for the payment. This should consist of an offer of the work to be done and an acceptance by the faculty member and can be in the form of a formal letter or an email exchange.  In the case where the work is being done by multiple faculty members any third party information must be redacted. Email exchanges that simply request the payment be made are not sufficient.

In the case of honoraria paid only as a token of appreciation a copy of the letter or email provided to the individual is sufficient – signed acceptance of the payment is not required.

Note that faculty members with salary should never be paid salary through Accounts Payable. Those faculty members who provide service to the university in an area of specific expertise unrelated to their UBC employment must comply with Policy SC3 – COI.

Checking payment limits

Prior to processing in Workday, ensure that the honoraria payments are in accordance with section 4.11 of Policy LR2 – Research and that the faculty member will not exceed their limit for the academic year (July 1 to June 30). Workday Query will provide a summary of honoraria payments and will assist administrators in determining the annual honoraria limit. 

Administrative stipends

Administrative stipends are paid in recognition of formal administrative appointments such as a head of a department, director of a school or associate dean in an academic unit.

Helpful information about our practice regarding administrative appointments is found in Policy AP5 – Deans/Principals Appointment and Policy AP9 – Academic Heads.

Stipends are paid for the duration of the administrative appointment. In the case of Academic Head of unit the minimum annual stipend is $5,000 per year. Other than Academic Heads of unit, there is no salary scale, minimum or maximum for stipends. Stipends are taxable as salary, and attract pension and benefits, as well as CPP, EI, & WCB.

If a faculty member is asked by his or her head of academic unit to take on an administrative role above and beyond what is normally required within their unit, they must be paid an honorarium, not a stipend.

Get helpful information in Policy AP5 – Deans/Principals Appointment and Policy AP9 – Academic Heads.

 

Statutory holiday pay

Canada's statutory holidays consist of various cultural, national and religious holidays legislated at the federal or provincial/territorial level. 

View the list of statutory holidays observed at UBC.

Workday will automatically calculate statutory holiday pay for full-time salaried and hourly employees who do not work the holiday. However, there may occasionally be circumstances where statutory holiday pay must be calculated outside of Workday. This may include calculating or adjusting the statutory pay for employees who do not work a standard workweek. 

If you have a statutory holiday pay inquiry, please review the Collective Agreement, Agreement or Employee Handbook.

Vancouver campus: If you have questions about statutory holiday pay, please contact your Human Resources Representative.

Okanagan campus: If you have questions regarding statutory holiday pay for staff who are represented by BCGEU Okanagan, please contact your HR-Okanagan Associate.

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