In the division of labour at the department, teaching and research staff focuses on their basic duties in teaching and research, with professional backup from administration and support staff.

The division of labour in the administration team is described on the page http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/laitos/hallinnon_tehtavat.html. There are instructions and information on the administration on the department’s intranet pages. The staff guide of the department contains information on staff policy, well-being in the workplace, occupational health care and sick leaves, instructions for new employees, total annual working hours, development talks, the salary system (UPJ), and other issues in connection with staff administration.

The department has its own staff policy described elsewhere in this quality manual, an elaboration of the outlines of the university’s staff policy.

The head of the department is responsible for the overall implementation of the staff administration in accordance with the department’s, the faculty’s, and the university’s staff policies.

Salaries and employment issues

Overview of employment issues

The staff administration is committed to carrying out its duties without fault or delay, in accordance with the decrees and instructions, Various channels are employed to inform the staff about changes in the decrees and instructions: mailing lists, the department’s internal bulletins, the public agendas and minutes of the steering committee, bulletins from the faculty. The processes are carried out in due form, i.e. the same duties are carried out in the same way in every unit. Those in charge of staff issues form a network that meets regularly on the invitation of the administrative director and HR secretary of the faculty.

Opportunities for the staff to influence decisions at the department as a part of the leadership strategies have been described in the System of management. This includes the cooperation procedure.

The general and comprehensive employment routines and staff policy of the university are followed at the department. There are instructions on employment in the university intranet (see human resources/employment issues). There is information on such topics as official posts and employment contracts, salaries, the new salary system, working hours, holidays and leaves of absence, and resigning from an official post. The department intranet contains more information specifically for the department.

Employment issues are handled in the faculty office and the department. In addition, the campus service unit handles some employment issues. The division of labour is as follows:

Faculty office

• preparing, reporting and implementing decisions on establishing, discontinuing and transferring official posts at the faculty
• filling vacancies: preparing, reporting and implementing decisions on professorships and on posts for which the faculty council or dean appoints the holder
• drawing up vacancy announcements
• preparation, reporting and implementation of decisions on adjunct professorships
• grants and stipends
• guidance in issues on employment and legal protection
• preparation of assessments of academic qualifications
• analyses and statistics on human resources
• staff and employment issues for the staff of the faculty office

Departments

• planning the department’s staff administration
• preparing, reporting and implementing decisions on establishing, discontinuing and transferring official posts at the department
• filling vacancies: the preparation of all vacancies that are not the charge of the faculty office
• HR and employment issues for staff without an official post
• HR and employment issues for part-time teachers
• grants and stipends
• maintaining data on annual holidays in the staff information system
• university trainees, persons undergoing non-military service
• guidance and support in practical routines for foreign visitors and employees
• preparation of assessments of academic qualifications
• information and help on staff issues
• maintenance of registers like TUHTI and JULKI
• analyses and statistics on human resources

The campus service unit

• human resources of departments and separate units on the basis of service contracts, as well as employment guidance
• storing data in the staff system (employment, absences, personal and degree data etc. except annual holidays)
• payment of salaries and fees
• illnesses and accidents
• the affairs of those employed with employment appropriation funds

The instructions of the department are available in the staff guide. They include information on occupational health and sick leaves as well as health care at the department, travel, ID cards and keys, post, telephones, office supplies, and copying.

Recruitments

Recruitment decisions are made in accordance with the general rules on recruitment and filling vacancies at the university at the Department of Computer Science. The department also has its own web page on recruitments.

Vacancies at the department and vacancies at the university are posted on the web.

Recruitment for official posts

The faculty council establishes all posts in the faculty, except professorships. Professorships are established by the Rector on proposal by the faculty council. The steering committee makes the proposal to the faculty council to establish a post, or changing the focus or duties of an existing, vacant post, or on the discontinuation of a post.

The faculty and the department implement recruitments in accordance with the staff policy of the unit. The administrative office announces vacant posts and positions.

The recruitment decisions are made in accordance with the administrative rules and regulations. In the faculty, the decisions on appointing staff and employing applicants are made by the faculty council, the steering committee of the respective department, the dean and the head of the department. The process has been described in the quality manual of the faculty.

The main laws and decrees on filling vacancies are available in Alma under ‘Yliopistohallinnon säädöksiä ja ohjeita’ (decrees and instructions for university administration).

Recruitment for locum posts and holding vacant posts

The department staff may express their wishes on the organisation of posts to their immediate superior during their development talks. The superior will deliver the teaching staff’s proposal for official posts to the head of the department before the official list is prepared (twice a year). The preparation process for the official list is described here.

Through the 'vacancies' post on the department’s web site, anyone can apply to tend locum posts on their own initiative. The staff policy of the department outlines the general criteria for selecting applicants, and more detailed criteria are available in the intranet.

Recruitment for research projects

The research projects announce their vacancies on their own web sites. In addition, many research groups and HIIT recruit summer workers annually through a centralised application procedure.

Please see the staff pages for more information and instructions on recruitments for research projects. Alma contains instructions for how to employ project staff.

Recruitment of part-time teachers

Part-time teachers are sought for one term at a time through an internal application process. The teaching administration team announces on the vacancies page that anyone interested in working as a part-time teacher may apply with them.

The applicants are asked to fill in a form or announce their preferred course and working hours by e-mail. They are requested to attach a transcript of the study register, possibly complemented with courses that have not been entered yet. The criteria for selecting part-time teachers are available among the principles for recruitment.

There is a separate web site for guidelines for part-time teachers at the department.

Entering employment

Please see Staff development for the guide on how to employ project staff.

Salaries

The salary is based on the demands level of the post and the holder’s individual performance (please see the site on the new salary system). The manual for the new salary system (UPJ) is available in the university’s intranet.

The department also has its own guide for the new salary system.

Salary payment is described in the faculty’s quality manual.

Ending employment

There is a so-called memo for leavers for those leaving the employment of the department. It contains various practical matters that have to be done before leaving the department.

Staff development

Orientation

The orientation guide of the University of Helsinki.

The orientation guide for the department is available in the staff guide.

A two-step orientation process is employed at the department. Each new employee is first given a general orientation by the department administration. This includes general information about employment issues, salaries, working hours, the rights and responsibilities of employees, as well as the department guidelines for the use of the information technology. (Travelling, occupational health and sick leaves, ID cards and keys, post and phone, and office supplies and copying.)

After this initial orientation, each new employee is appointed their own personal sponsor who helps integrate the new employee into the working community of their own research group/project/sub-programme and its work as well as answering any practical questions the new employee might have. There are guidelines for sponsors at the department for any sponsor or new employee to check for what the orientation process should include.

More guidelines:

Guide for new employees.

Sivutoimisen tuntiopettajan ohjeet (guide for part-time teachers)

Guide for sponsors

Development talks

Each employee is appointed an immediate superior with whom to have their development talks every spring and autumn; these talks focus on the plans, development needs and goals of the coming year. The UPJ talks during the spring are a review of the previous year’s performance and an assessment of goals set at the previous development talks or in other plans, as well as the duties specified in the duty description.

Employees will discuss the demands level of their duties and the assessment of their performance, as required by the new salary system, either in separate talks with their superior or in connection with the development talks.

There are around 20 immediate superiors at the department. The immediate superiors will have their own talks with the head of the department, during which they will report on their own teams.

The department’s own instructions and forms (in Finnish) for the development talks, UPJ, and work plans, as well as the division of teams are available in the Staff guide.

Staff training

The staff training courses of the University of Helsinki.

The department supports the career development of its staff with systematic training goals. The immediate superiors will chart their staff’s training needs during the development talks, and make sure that employees can attend training courses. All training is taken into account when assessing individual performance.

The department especially wants to support the development of pedagogical skills for its teaching staff. Teachers at the department participate in the so-called teacher’s cafés organised by the faculty, as well as in more long-term training forms for advanced professional skills in university teaching.

The Department of Computer Science is supportive of any voluntary complementary training that its staff wants to attend.

Both the university and the faculty encourage heads of departments and other managers to attend management training.

At the beginning of their appointment, the members of the faculty council and the heads of department are given orientation and training opportunities.

See Chapter D.2.1. Opetuksen tuki (support for teaching) of the university’s quality manual for more detail.

Foreign visitors and employees

There is a guide (in Finnish) for the host/esses of foreign visitors to the department. It describes what needs to be done before guests arrive and when they are here.

The department administration will help project managers with the permits for foreign employees (residence permits, work permits, immigration documentation) and employment issues for foreigners. The rules and guidelines for foreign employees are available on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service.

Well-being, health, working conditions

The department has a guide on issues connected with occupational health, illness, and health care.

The department aims for a healthy and safe working environment, a motivated and productive work community, and healthy and motivated employees. The department supports these aims by encouraging its staff to avail itself of the gym reservations paid for by the department at the Kumpula gym centre (indoor football, floorball, underwater rugby).

The faculty employs the support of the unit for well-being in the workplace at the HR and Legal Affairs department. This has been described in the faculty’s quality manual.

For more information, please see Chapter C.2.5. Terveys ja työolot (health and working conditions) and Chapter D.11. Liikuntapalvelut (gym services) of the university’s quality manual.