New online tool tracking absences

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By Heather Travis
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Faculty, staff and students who are sick are asked to use new online self-reporting tools for absences due to flu-like illnesses.
 
The new tool comes just as the Middlesex-London Health Unit is reporting a possible increase in the number of cases of influenza.  
 
Developed by the Registrar’s Office for students and Human Resources for faculty and staff, the system will monitor flu-like illness and absences to help manage a potential outbreak of H1N1 influenza.  

Faculty and staff

Departments will determine how the tools will be used to report absences. Although it was designed specifically for a pandemic, employees can report sick, compassionate care and bereavement leaves, or a workplace injury.
 
This tool will not be used for reporting absences due to training, development or vacation.
 
Human Resources Director of Total Compensation, Louise Koza, says the information will allow the university to monitor flu and assess the ability to maintain operations.
 
“Without this data we will have no ability to assess our ongoing operations,” she says.  
 
Although this tool is available, not all departments will require self-reporting.  
 
“It depends on how the business unit decides to use these tools. We are not dictating how this needs to be done.”  
 
Each department will inform employees whether to self-report an absence or if the department will do this on the employee’s behalf, or both.  
 
Faculty and staff members can access their online absence reporting tool by logging on to myHR from the Human Resources website. The tool defaults to the current date; however employees can back-date absences for the period they were off sick. They can enter a prospective end-date if it is known, or enter the information after returning to work.
  
In the past, tracking absences was decentralized.  
 
The system will provide daily head counts of absent employees and track trends, which will be distributed to the Emergency Operations Control Group.
 
It will also enable the university to report on patterns to the health unit.  
 
The data will not affect an employee’s compensation, says Koza.
 
The tool went live on Oct. 5 for areas considered to be essential services by the Continuity of Operations Planning Committee. Human Resources is talking about the tool with other departments which will determine the best strategy for implementing the tool. It is expected to roll out across the university throughout October.

Students

Similarly, an online self-reporting tool is in place for students.  
 
Those who should use the self-reporting tool are individuals who stay home from class due to a flu-like illness, meaning experiencing a fever with at least one of the following symptoms: coughing, sore throat or shortness of breath.  
 
The tool will only be used for influenza-like symptoms and will replace the student requirement of providing a medical certificate for absences in these instances. All other illness will require a medical certificate.
 
Students are encouraged to report symptoms early and indicate a start date (or back-date up to 10 days) for when symptoms began and add an end date for when they feel better. Students should indicate the courses that need academic accommodation, including exams, tests, labs or reports, and other relevant information.  
 
Students have already started to use the tool, says Associate Registrar Glen Tigert. A daily report will be sent to deans and graduate program offices listing students who are ill.  
 
“The primary reason we developed it was to be able to track student illness because it is a very important concern of the university to know how many students are sick at a given time. It will impact the services we provide; it may even impact whether we remain open if it becomes extremely serious,” he says.  
 
Although concerns have been raised about potential abuses, Tigert reassures it is not a “free pass.”
 
“I don’t think there is going to be a lot of abuse because (students) understand and see that this is an accommodation for them, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have to do the work in some other fashion,” he says.  
 
Students can access the self-reporting tool by logging on to the Student Centre website or calling the Helpline at 519?661?2100.

Few cases

Overall, the university has seen few students reporting flu-like symptoms.  
 
In a Sept. 30 letter to employees from Fred Longstaffe, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) and Gitta Kulczycki, Vice-President (Resources & Operations), the university reports it has seen a low number of students with symptoms. Similarly, the number of cases in the community remains low.  
 
“At any time we could begin to see influenza activity increasing. Just having people come in with fever and respiratory symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean influenza unless you know there is some evidence of influenza in the community,” says Bryna Warshawsky, Associate Medical Officer of Health for MLHU and a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics.  
 
Based on provincial data, MLHU says less than five per cent of the test results from samples taken were positive for influenza, including Pandemic H1N1 influenza. However, there are suggestions this increased in the past week.  
 
In recent weeks, the MLHU has received four laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza.  
 
“Because the percentage of positive swabs is low, it appears that influenza is not the predominant viruses causing respiratory illness out there at the moment,” she says.  
 
“Of people who are presenting with respiratory symptoms, at this point, most of them don’t have influenza, either seasonal or pandemic. Most of them likely have other viruses.”
Website
Information about self-reporting tools and tips for reducing risks can be found on the H1N1 microsite at http://communications.uwo.ca/influenza-microsite/.     

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