P&C end-of-year deadlines

Due to the university close-down period, normal deadlines for a range of People and Capability processes and activities need to be adjusted. These include payroll, recruitment, new offers and onboarding, and fixed-term contract ends and renewals.

Payroll

The table below outlines the pay periods in December and January and the timelines for the cut-off for termination processes, timesheets and other salary claims in Staff Connect:

NB. Due to the university close-down period, it will not be possible to process payments received after the published deadlines, nor process any requests for manual payments.

Recruitment

As the university moves into the December/January period, the candidate market slows down as candidates are not generally searching for new job opportunities at this time. This makes attracting and engaging high quality external candidates for ACU’s employment opportunities unreliable.

Friday 15 November 2024 is the final day that members of the senior executive will be approving recruitment request forms for this year, with only approved recruitment to continue being advertised after this date.

Hiring managers are reminded that any current recruitment actions progressing will also need to comply with end-of-year approval deadlines to ensure the offer letters and onboarding processes can be completed within the required timeframes.

Offers of employment and onboarding of new staff

Hiring managers are reminded that any current recruitment actions progressing will also need to comply with end-of-year approval deadlines to ensure the offer letters and onboarding processes can be completed within the required timeframes.

• Monday 16 December 2024 – final date for new contracts to be progressed in Staff Connect and last day new starters can commence in 2024
• Monday 6 January 2025 – Commence issuing new contracts for 2025
• Monday 13 January 2025 – First day new starters can commence in 2025

Fixed term contract ends and renewals

Finalising fixed-term contracts ending December 2024/January 2025.

Supervisors with staff who have a fixed term contract ending in the next three months will have already received Staff Connect and email notifications regarding the initiation of an online form that outlines available employment options. Supervisors are reminded to action these promptly via Staff Connect forms.

Where a further employment contract is being requested as part of the fixed-term process in Staff Connect, approval to proceed should be with P&C by Monday 9 December 2024 for both an offer and acceptance of the new employment contract to be completed prior to the Christmas shutdown.

Prompt action is also required where a fixed-term contract is ending to allow the required notice period to be provided to the staff member. Where this does not occur, payment in lieu of notice is payable.

Subject to the timelines outlined above and the completion of the required processes within these timelines, any questions or queries relating to status of offers, contracts or onboarding tasks should be directed to the P&C Appointments Team via a general enquiry in Service Central.