As we begin our annual Vincentian Heritage Week celebration, I’m reflecting on several of the Vincentian charisms that define our work – hospitality, human dignity, and our collective community. Together, we are developing our vision for the future of DePaul, and I can see how important it is to improve morale and quality of life.
In my early conversations with many of you, I have come to understand how difficult it is to find the time to use well-earned vacation days. To begin to reset the work-life balance at DePaul, I am extending this year’s annual holiday break to start earlier than planned.
This year, our annual holiday break is different from years past.
To ensure that we try to offer enough time for you to enjoy the break, we will close the university for two more days. This year, we will close the university on Wednesday, Dec. 21 and Thursday, Dec. 22. This closure is in addition to the already scheduled holiday break, which will be Friday, Dec. 23 – Sunday, Jan. 1. We recognize that certain employees will not be able to use these additional days as holidays, and we will make accommodations to ensure everyone gets the time off they deserve. Please see the details Human Resources provided below regarding time reporting and payroll.
In addition, the 10-day vacation carryover will now be permanent. As proposed by Staff Council, moving forward, employees may carry over a maximum of 10 days of accrued vacation past Dec. 31 to be taken the following calendar year.
Closing the university and increasing your vacation carryover are two ways we can begin to address work-life balance at DePaul. We will keep working together to find additional solutions. Thank you for continuing to share your feedback with me. I’m grateful for everything you do to keep our university operating every single day all for the good of our students.
Time reporting: All full-time staff will receive paid holidays on Dec. 21 and Dec. 22. Essential workers will accrue two floating holidays. Exempt staff and faculty do not need to record the holiday hours in order to be paid. Non-exempt employees observing the additional closure should report the time as “holiday” on their timecard. Please contact Human Resources with any questions.