We understand that while you’re here, you’ll require some necessary breaks for things like vacations, family leave, scheduled holidays and just regular days away. We all need them! So, when you’re ready to book a break for any reason, this section will cover just about everything you need to know.
First, we have to just say it: We absolutely encourage you to take time off! As noted below, Australian law also includes provisions to ensure that you use your entitled leave. While we enjoy our time with you, it’s important to balance your work and personal lives. We’re here to support you in that regard however we can.
Though we like to stay busy at InterWorks, there are select company-observed holidays where InterWorks offices are closed and all full-time InterWorks employees have automatic time off with pay.
Bank holidays falling on a weekend are always moved to a later date, generally the following Monday.
Vacation time and personal days all fall under Paid Time Off (PTO) at InterWorks. Your PTO pay is based on your pay rate in effect when your PTO is used and does not include bonuses or other special forms of compensation.
Your PTO account is managed and tracked in our Time Entry System in MOAS, where you can make requests and keep track of your available PTO. Please remember that there are busy times here at IW and your request for PTO may need to be adjusted given work circumstances and customer demand. It’s always best to make PTO requests as far in advance as possible. We are generally flexible with PTO arrangements, and you should never hesitate to ask about time off when you need it. Taking holiday of more than two weeks will only be approved in exceptional circumstances.
On your first day, 160 hours will be added to your PTO account. Additionally, after your first year here, you’ll get an anniversary addition of 160 hours each year. We assume that you will work with us at least until your next anniversary date, so your annual addition of PTO reflects the full accrued amount of PTO that you may use for the next 12 months.
On each anniversary date, a maximum of 32 hours are carried over to the next year. Any hours above the 32 hours that were not used will be paid out at your hourly rate on the next pay date.
We want to be as flexible and accommodating as possible. You can go into the negative of PTO hours, if needed. Just keep in mind, if you leave InterWorks with a negative PTO accrued balance, you will need to reimburse the company per the following section, <em
Accrued and unused PTO will be prorated from the 1st of January and paid on your final paycheck. If the prorated PTO balance is negative, you will be expected to reimburse the company for the amount equal to your negative PTO balance. This can be handled by deducting from your final paycheck or can be paid via a personal check addressed to InterWorks.
Full-time and part-time employees accumulate sick and carer’s leave during each year of employment. It starts accumulating from an employee’s first day of work and is based on their ordinary hours of work. The balance at the end of each year carries over to the next year. You will receive 80 hours of leave each year on your anniversary date. If you have any questions about this, please contact hr@.
We allow for up to three days of bereavement leave due to the death of a family member or close friend before using PTO. Please discuss this with HR and your manager. You may request the bereavement leave in MOAS in the same way that you request PTO.
InterWorks supports our folks with their civic duty to serve on a jury. Employees must present any summons to jury duty to their manager as soon as possible after receiving the notice to allow advance planning for an employee’s absence.
Employees will be provided time off for jury duty in accordance with applicable laws. If an employee is released from jury duty early, we ask the employee to report to work for the remainder of that workday.
Time off for appearance in court for personal business will be the individual employee’s responsibility, and PTO will be used for this purpose.
InterWorks recognises that voting is a right and privilege of being a citizen of Australia and encourages employees to exercise their right to vote. In almost all cases, employees will have sufficient time outside working hours to vote. If for any reason you think this will not be the case, contact your manager to discuss scheduling accommodation. Employees will be provided with time off for voting in accordance with applicable laws.
Busy times happen as part of our industry, we’re all used to this to one extent or another. However, we believe that repeatedly working late hours or through the weekends should not be an everyday or every week occurrence. When our business commitments require such efforts, we’ve created our Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) system to help even things out a bit as you meet those critical deadlines.
TOIL is not a 1:1 hour exchange program or any version of regular flextime. It is not designed as a method to adjust your personal working hours, e.g., choosing to work ten hours on Thursday in order to leave early on Friday. We aren’t trying to balance out one day against another.
TOIL is not designed to compensate for travel time to and from our offices and/or client locations. We understand that travel can be demanding, and we work to manage this in a variety of other ways, but not through the use of TOIL.
TOIL is there to help those forced by project or client demands to work an inordinate amount of time and at odd hours to meet those demands.
If you believe your day or week qualifies to be handled within the TOIL system, speak with your manager in order to work out the details.
Life happens, and there are several instances where traditional PTO structures don’t quite apply. Beyond the federally mandated provisions, we’ve tried to cover the big life events that require a different set of leave guidelines.
We take pride in the family-friendly environment at InterWorks, and we recognize the special challenges you may face when your family is growing. To help, we offer paid time off for parents of newborn and newly adopted children who have recently moved to your home.
Any employee who, at the time of the eligible birth or adoption, has been a full-time employee for at least six months is eligible for benefits under this leave policy. Leave under this policy may only be taken during the first twelve months following birth (including birth by surrogacy) or adoption.
If you give birth, or are the primary caregiver of an adopted child, you may take up to twelve weeks of paid leave at 100% of your current salary, followed by four weeks where you‘ll be back at work 50% of the time with 100% of your current salary.
Please provide as advance notice of your intent to use paid parental leave to your manager and directly to HR. Also, please give as much notice as possible as to when you will return to work.
Additional leave benefits may be available based on local and state law. Paid leave under this policy will run concurrently with any available government leave.
An unpaid personal leave of absence may be granted upon request to regular full- and part-time employees for important pressing personal needs, at the discretion of the CEO. Unpaid personal leave is limited to one instance per year.
Requests for unpaid personal leave must be made in writing to your manager with a copy to HR@, indicating the reason and the length of leave. All unpaid leave must be approved by the CEO.