Contract Research Staff

Online Research Staff Handbook 

The Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (PDAC) within the department represents its postdocs. All postdocs are invited to get involved in this which provides support and resources for Chemistry postdocs. For more information on the committee's work and on being a postdoc within the department, please access the postdoc website. 

Hours of work

Your hours of work should be agreed between yourself and your supervisor, Principal Investigator or line manager. If you are appointed to work part-time your total hours of work will correspond with the percentage of salary payable.

Under the Working Time Regulations, 1998, you are not required to work more than 48 hours per week unless you sign an agreement to do so.

The Department does operate a flexible working policy for certain post categories. 

Annual Leave

For academic-related and contract research staff, holiday entitlement runs from October to September. If you start work after the beginning of the leave year your entitlement for that year will be calculated pro rata to the proportion of the leave year remaining.

Holiday entitlement for academic-related and contract research staff is 41 days for those working full-time, based on a five-day working week, and pro-rata for part-time according to days worked. Periods of University closure, other than public holidays will be taken as part of the annual leave. The remaining leave is taken at times that suit both the individual and his or her institution.

Public and Bank Holidays

The days of public and bank holidays in England and Wales are:

With the exception of the public holidays around Easter and Christmas, the Department is open every public holiday as a normal working day.

If you are required to work on a Public Holiday you are entitled to a corresponding period of time off in lieu.

Mentoring

The department has launched a new Mentoring Scheme for contract research staff and research visitors. The scheme has been devised in collaboration with the Department's Post-Doc Affairs Committee (PDAC), is fully supported by the Head of Department and Athena SWAN working group.

Under the new scheme, a ‘pool’ of academic and senior staff mentors have volunteered to mentor CRS across a range of work-related topics and issues including:

• help with research-related issues: project management/time management
• help with other work-related issues: people management/conflict resolution
• career development and progression: values, aspirations, training
• routes to academic and/or industry careers
• work-life balance (including “women in science” and related issues)
• provide motivation, confidence and inspiration
• Mentors can also specify other work-related areas where they can help. 

Researchers can view the pool of postdoc mentors and contact the person they feel is most appropriate to support their needs.

The revised scheme is not intended to replace any successful mentoring relationships in the earlier system where a PI recommends a suitable mentor. These should continue and research staff can continue to seek a mentor/mentoring advice through their PI.

Staff review and Development for research staff

SRD for research staff can be accessed via the Postdoc webpages.

Sickness

If you are unfit for work due to illness, please either contact your line manager by phone or email on the first day of your absence, or email sickness.reporting@ch.cam.ac.uk. 

Please let them know the following (as set out in the Sickness Absence Policy):

• The nature of the illness or injury;
• The expected approximate length of absence from work;
• Contact details;
• Whether the absence may be due to an injury at work or otherwise perceived to be related to work; and
• Any outstanding or urgent work that requires attention.

If you are unable to contact the department due to your illness, you should make alternative arrangements e.g ask a family member to call or email on your behalf.

The Procedure of reporting and recording sick absence, details related to medical appointments, occupational sick pay and return to work can be found on the Sickness Absence Procedure page.