A UK university is introducing a new staff monitoring policy that will require employees to tell management if they leave their ¡°normal place of work¡± for half a day or longer.

The University of Edinburgh has confirmed that it is to extend new rules that oblige international staff to report their whereabouts ¡°when officially at work, but not in their normal place of work¡± to all employees.

That is because the university¡¯s central management group had decided that it was ¡°not an appropriate or acceptable approach¡± to apply the reporting rules, which are a condition of Tier 2 and 5 work visas, solely to staff from outside the European Union.

Under the new rules, all schools and departments have been asked to put in place ¡°sensible and proportionate arrangements¡± to ensure they know when staff are at their normal place of work, on leave, working from home, elsewhere on campus or away from the university, according to a message to some employees seen by Times Higher Education.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

The ¡°decision to apply the same process to all staff, not just our Tier 2 and Tier 5 colleagues, mirrors our college¡¯s attendance and engagement policy for students which has both compliance and pastoral aims¡±, according to the message, which was sent by Dorothy Miell, vice-principal and head of the College of Humanities and Social Science.

However, some staff have expressed disappointment that a monitoring policy likely to impact on a handful of foreign staff for É«ºÐÖ±²¥ Office purposes will now affect all of Edinburgh¡¯s 13,000 employees.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

One staff member told É«ºÐÖ±²¥ that he was disappointed the reporting policy would even apply when staff are visiting different parts of the university campus, such as the library or a colleague¡¯s office.

¡°We have some concerns about the way these proposals are being rolled out,¡± said a spokesman for Edinburgh¡¯s University and College Union branch.

¡°We¡¯re currently consulting with members and seeking advice on how to ensure that any staff monitoring by the university is done in a fair and proportionate manner,¡± he added.

Another Edinburgh academic, who did not want to be named, said that under guidelines drawn up by the workplace dispute mediator Acas, "overbearing supervision is classed as?bullying".

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

"Rather than?using the oppressive requirements to which the É«ºÐÖ±²¥ Office subjects a handful?of?valued colleagues to justify?comprehensive micromanagement, we should use our position and power to challenge this xenophobia and treat everybody?with greater?trust," they added.

Edinburgh confirmed the policy would apply university-wide, although it would ¡°not be expected to capture the fact that a staff member is attending a two-hour meeting in the middle of the day, coming in to work an hour later than normal or leaving an hour and a half early¡±, according to Professor Miell¡¯s memo.

¡°A proportionate system will capture the whereabouts of staff when at work, but not at their normal place of work, for periods of half a day or more (ie, am or pm),¡± the message says.

¡°As a leading global university, we are committed to treating all staff fairly and equally, regardless of their nationality,¡± a university spokesman told É«ºÐÖ±²¥.

É«ºÐÖ±²¥

¡°We are encouraging all our departments to develop simple and appropriate ways of ensuring that staff share relevant information on a consistent basis,¡± he added.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com