By Lysander Tiu
Silliman University (SU) faculty members have expressed concerns on the new logbook policy requiring academic units to record their attendance physically starting April.
According to University Librarian Sarah Angiela Ragay, a memorandum emailed to academic unit heads last Feb. 28 informed them to track and keep attendance records for all teaching and non-teaching personnel.
The email wrote, “As it is stipulated in the University Manual, part of the responsibilities of unit heads is to keep track of the attendance of the members of their assigned units.”
Ragay explained that reports on “tardiness, undertime, and absences” will be submitted to the Organizational Development and Human Resource Management (OD-HRM) division for proper processing, especially if “no pertinent leaves are authorized.”
Institute of Rehabilitative Sciences (IRS) Dean Dr. Lily Ann Bautista also said that they are required to submit a monthly report based on attendance, with staff required to render eight hours of service daily.
“I think people still have to develop a culture of scanning and attendance monitoring. There is a learning curve as people forget to log in or out,” she said.
In response to the newly-implemented policy, some units such as the IRS are using methods that “may be more efficient” such as QR codes and computerized systems, while logbooks are considered as a “backup” system to present data for working hours.
Challenges on logbooking policy
However, Bautista expressed that “people still have to develop a culture of scanning and attendance monitoring” since other departments have not followed the attendance monitoring or logbook use.
“I am still unclear on the actual procedure. I am also unclear on the consequences if people fail to log their attendance. Guidelines are still unclear, based on verbal responses to questions to the deans conference,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ragay said that the attendance system the university library follows has “not been checked by the HRM.”
“Right now, we are just waiting to see if they’ll really check the attendance and tardiness of our library personnel,” she wrote.
On the other hand, SU Faculty Association (SUFA) President Jonathan Mark Te said that they are currently awaiting the response from the office of vice president for academic affairs and research regarding their request for a “grievance conference.”
“Since there are no guidelines, SUFA has officially requested for a suspension of its use until such time that clear guidelines would be established in accordance with good faith negotiations with the union,” Te said.
Te also shared that union members have been informed and advised to continue to follow their respective college’s practice on attendance instead of the logbook.
As of writing, the OD-HRM division has yet to provide a statement regarding the policy.
