HR Policy

SSIS, Abu Dhabi is committed to providing holistic and quality education to its student population. The academic staffs at our school are passionate about their profession, innovative in their pedagogy and well informed in the areas of their expertise. They are our asset. We work together, we grow together and we achieve our goals together. As an academic staff of our group, we value your judgement to join our team. You will be looked up to with great expectations by all the stakeholders – students, parents, staff, officials, management and the society at large. Hence, remember to honor the school motto: Knowledge Illuminates Life. Honesty is a virtue much desired. Hence, always do the right thing, at the right place and right time.

As a member of SSIS team you are expected to keep the following golden rules always in your mind.

  1. UAE is a country of great opportunities, advancement and challenges. Islam is the religion of the country and Arabic the official language. While in UAE, you must not indulge by word or action in any mode of communication that undermines the glory of the host country and its religion. All the expatriates are required to fulfill legal obligations before entering into a job. Status of employment visa, medical fitness, Emirates Identity Card, labour card / work permit, your passport must always be kept updated.
  2. Protocol: It is essential for all the employees to strictly follow the protocol of office. School’s Organization Chart displayed (fig 01) should serve as a guide to maintaining the hierarchy of communication.
  3. Punctuality and Regularity: Make it a point to reach office / school on time every day. Devote your time completely to your work during office hours. Do not forget to register your attendance (in and out – written and electronic) every day.
  4. Dress appropriately: Always wear neat and ironed formal clothes while on duty. Your sense of clothing speaks volumes about your personality. Keep the ideology of the land and the school in mind while deciding on your dress for the day.
  5. Be professional: Your dealings with the students and staff should be highly professional. You must build a positive attitude toward the school and its work. Everything related to your work is your business. You will be assessed and evaluated for your performance. So take your job seriously and discharge your duties diligently.
  6. Respect and Courtesy: SSIS hires men and women of divergent caste, creed and religious backgrounds. It is mandatory to treat one another with great respect and courtesy. Similarly, the student population also has diversity. They should also be treated as such.

 

Induction into Service:

Policy Statement
SSIS believes that all new employees must be formally inducted into their services. Induction is a vital to an employee’s recruitment and integration into the working environment. This policy, associated procedures and guidelines define our commitment to ensure that all staffs are trained, guided and supported during their period of service with us so as to work and grow together.
Induction Officer
Principal of the school will be the chief inducting officer. He/She will initially introduce you to other officials in the hierarchy and brief you on the goals, expectations, culture and the nature of duties to be discharged. This will enable you to settle into the job comfortably and become a goal oriented and efficient member of the staff.
Induction Checklist (To be completed by Headmistress and the concerned teacher)
The Induction checklist will help you to ensure that information has reached you regarding most of the matters that concern your service. Principal and your Manager will be pleased to answer any queries you may have with regard to your work.

Areas of General Concern
Complete
1. Introduction to colleagues
2. Vice Principal/Headmistress/Academic Coordinator / HoDs
3. General layout of the school – entrances and exits
4. Information on hours of work / time table
5. Reporting in when sick including when on leave
6. Obtaining uniform coat and textbooks-reference book
7. Health and safety information / policy
8. Fire fighting procedure / policy
9. Child protection policy
10. Arrangement for lockers, keys, passes, ID Badge etc.
11. Dress code and Code of conduct
12. Disciplinary procedures
13. Means of advancement/ promotion opportunities
14. Employee appraisal / review system
15. Handling Complaints
16. Pay and other benefits
17. Terms and Condition of employment

Appointment
Every employee is appointed on the basis of his / her competence in the area of expertise, adequate experience in the field and conformity with all the legal requirements of Labour and Immigration Ministries in UAE. An offer of job made by the school does not guarantee appointment if the legal requisites are not met satisfactorily. Steps to appointment:

  1. Interview and demonstration class.
  2. Offer made if the performance is as per the expected standards of the school.
  3. Candidate submits attested copies of certificates (authenticated by Ministries of HRD and External Affairs in India, and counter attested by the Embassy of UAE in India), copies of passport and colour photograph.
  4. Application is made to ADEK and NOC sought.
  5. Application is made to Labour Dept. and approval sought.
  6. For school sponsored candidates, Immigration dept. is approached for visa. Non-school sponsored candidates called for appointment.
  7. School sponsored candidates once, qualify medical fitness test, apply for Emirates ID, obtain residence permit and are appointed to their jobs after successfully meeting the requirements.
  8. School assigns Employee Code , which the appointees use to mark their attendance both in writing and on biometric machine.
  9. Staffs are inducted, mentored, monitored and assessed for their performance.
  10. Journey of service begins.

Labour Contract- An employee will be under limited contract for the first five years of employments with each contract period being 2 years according to the Federal rules of Ministry of Labour and Emiratization. An employee will need to give 2 months’ notice and 2 months of gross salary for breach of Contract.

Probation
Except in the case of a purely temporary vacancy or leave vacancy or for a specific post of temporary nature, every employee shall on initial appointment be on probation for a period of 6 months from the date of his/her joining. Services of an employee on probation may be terminated by the Management without assigning any reason or end of service benefits.

Confirmation
  1. If the work and conduct of an employee during the period of probation are found to be satisfactory, he/she will become eligible for confirmation on the expiry of the period of probation with effect from the date of expiry of the stated period provided he/she fulfills the other requisite conditions.
  2. The employee shall be informed of his/her confirmation within two working weeks of the completion of the probation period. However, if no intimation is made with regard to termination of service, the service of the employee will be deemed to have been regularized and confirmed for the period indicated in the Labour Contract.

Renewal of Contract
The Labour Contract between the school and the employee may be renewed mutually if the Management is satisfied with the performance of the staff during the preceding period of contract and desires to retain his / her services. However, if either of the parties does not intend to renew the Labour Contract, it will express its intentions in writing at least two month prior to the date of expiry of the Contract.
Resignation
If an employee at any time after confirmation of service intends to resign, he/she shall give two months’ notice in writing. In the absence of the notice period, one months’ salary including all allowances will be deducted. The Management will not entertain any request to issue NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE (NOC) to work elsewhere. An automatic Ban on Labour for a period ranging from six months to one year will occur on cancellation of the first Labour Contract under the Federal Labour Law of UAE.

Termination from Service

  1. The Management shall have the authority to terminate the services of a confirmed employee on any of the following conditions:
    a) Unsatisfactory performance over a period of time.
    b) Long unauthorized absence.
    c) Termination arising out of disciplinary proceedings.
    d) Failure to update the professional competency even after two written warnings.
  2. The Managing Committee shall also be competent to terminate the services of a confirmed employee in case of Redundancy and Retrenchment by giving one month’s notice in writing or one month’s salary including all allowances.

Exit policy

  1. On leaving, the Institution will recover from you any money due to the school. If you leave School without giving adequate notice and without the Institution’s agreement, you are in breach of your contract and you may forfeit some or all of any salary due to you. Before leaving, you must hand over to the Principal/Lin Manager all documents/articles belonging to the School, including your ID badge and any documents, equipment and software developed by the school. Documents and software include (but are not limited to) laptops / tablets, health insurance, correspondence, diaries, address books, databases, files, reports, plans, records or any other medium for storing information. You should not retain any copies, drafts, reproductions, extracts or summaries of documents and software. Should your employment be terminated following disciplinary action, it is unlikely you will receive payment in lieu of notice. However, as there are numerous reasons as to why someone is dismissed, payment in lieu of notice will be reviewed on an individual basis taking into consideration the reasons behind the dismissal.
  2. Should you be dismissed for reasons of gross misconduct, your employment will be terminated immediately without the benefit of notice or payment in lieu of notice.
  3. You need to submit No Dues Certificate (NDC) to School Accounts Department in prescribed format available with your Supervisor for the settlement of your dues.

Superannuation
Every academic and non-academic staff shall retire from service on attaining the age of 60. If the date of superannuation falls during the academic session, the concerned employee will retire at the end of the academic session. However, if the date of superannuation falls closer to the due date for renewal of Labour Contract / visa i.e. less than six months, then the Labour Contract / visa will not be processed. Exempting an employee from this policy will rest exclusively on the discretion of the Management provided the employee has a record of being graded ‘Outstanding’ consecutively in the last five years and further provided that he / she enjoys good health and could still be of paramount service to the school. Such an exception will run for a year and be reviewed. In any case, an exemption to the date of superannuation will not go beyond two extensions i.e. until attaining the age of 62.

Working Days and Working Hours

  1. The working days and holidays will be applicable as per the rules of the school and the Ministry of Education, UAE.
  2. The working hours will be from 7.30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Normal working days run Sunday through Thursday. However, for purpose of professional training and development programs, an employee may have to report to school at any intimated time and day.
  3. Working hours are different for teaching and non-teaching staff.
  4. As and when required, an employee may be assigned any special duty even if it is to be done beyond the normal working hours in the interest of the school.
  5. An employee is also required to conduct and organize co-curricular programs and perform other duties even beyond the normal working hours, not exceeding 48 hours of total duty period in a week.

Number of Teaching Hours : Every teacher shall devote in a year not less than 1200 hours to the teaching of students, out of which 200 hours may be devoted for the remedial coaching in the school premises of weak, gifted and talented students, whether before or after the school hours.

Attendance of Employees

  1. Every employee is expected to reach the school punctually and sign the attendance register on arrival before the working of the school begins. In addition to this, all are required to mark their attendance by punching in and punching out via Bio-Metric Time Attendance System.
  2. An employee who has not signed the attendance register as above is liable to be considered absent from duty for that date.
  3. Penalties may apply on late reporting or early departure. Application must be made to the Principal in genuine cases such as late arrival or early departure of school employed buses.

 

Bio-Metric Time Attendance System
I.Duty Timings of Teachers:

Attendance Thumb-In Thumb-Out Grace Time
Regular Duty 10 Minutes
Saturday Open
Own Transport
Saturdays Open

III. Penalty Criterion:

Monthly Late Attendance Applicable Frequency of Penalty
First Nil
Second 10 % of one day’s Basic salary will be deducted and they should remain on duty as usual.
Third 25 % of one day’s Basic salary will be deducted and they should remain on duty as usual.
Fourth 100 % of one day’s Basic salary will be deducted and they should remain on duty as usual.

 

Gratuity

Gratuity is payable as per the UAE federal law.
As per the Article (136), 137& 138 of UAE Federal law, If an employee under a contract with unlimited period has left his work at his own option after a continuous service of not less than one year and not more than three years, he/she shall be entitled to one third of the end of service gratuity provided.
If the period of his continued service is more than 3 years and less than 5 years he/she becomes entitled to 2/3 of the said gratuity, but if his continued service exceeds 5 years, he becomes entitled to the entire gratuity.
If an employee under a contract with limited period leaves his/her work at his own option before the end of the contract period he/she shall not be entitled to end of service gratuity unless the period of his continuous service exceeds five years.

Availing Leave – Points to note:

    1. Types of leaves mentioned below are applicable to those continuing their service for or more than one academic year i.e. April to March.
    2. Leave cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
    3. No leave is granted to those on probation.
    4. Grant of any leave shall depend on the exigencies of the institution and shall be at the discretion of the Principal
  1. Except in unavoidable circumstances, applications for leave in writing shall be made in advance. An email or a phone message giving reasons should reach the Principal on the day of absence. However, application for the same must be made before rejoining duty.
  2. Merely applying for leave does not mean it’s sanctioned.
  3. Check on the status of your leave with your Vice Principal / Principal.

Emergency Leave:
Every employee shall be sanctioned up to 6 days’ emergency leave during an academic year (April to March) i.e. at the rate of 0.6 day’s leave per month for ten working months. An employee can avail two paid emergency leaves between April and June end, another two between September and December end and the rest of two leaves between January and March end.

Condolence/Bereavement Leave:
In the event of death of an immediate relative such as parents, parents in law, siblings, spouse and children, an employee may be granted paid leave for a maximum period of seven days including official holidays such as Friday and Saturday. No casual or leave on loss of pay can be appended to this leave. Leave of this kind is granted purely on humanitarian grounds. Any misuse of the same, if proved, will lead to disciplinary action. To avail leave of this kind, satisfactory document stating the reason should be produced on the date of joining.

Leave on Loss-of-pay:
Leave on loss of pay may be availed for maximum period of five working days with prior written permission from the Principal. No extension of the leave can be granted.

Sick Leave:
Sick leave is permissible as per the Labour Law of UAE, however, no sick leave will be granted without an authentic ‘unfit to work’ report issued by a licensed medical practitioner in UAE and attested by the Ministry of Health, UAE.

Code of Conduct for Employees
Every employee shall be governed by the Code of Conduct. Each one is expected to be exemplary in his / her public and private life. Employees’ sense of loyalty, dedication and integrity of character at all times should be an inspiration to the younger ones they care.
The following acts shall constitute breach of code of conduct:

  1. Habitual late coming and negligence of duty.
  2. Use of abusive language, quarrelsome and riotous behavior.
  3. Insubordination and defiance of lawful order.
  4. Disrespectful behaviour, rumour mongering and character assassination.
  5. Making false accusations or assault either provoked or otherwise.
  6. Smoking in the school premises.
  7. Embezzlement of funds or misappropriation of school property or theft or fraud.
  8. Mutilation/destruction of school records and property.
  9. Conviction by a court of law for criminal offence.
  10. Possession in school premises of drugs, weapons, explosives, and other objectionable materials.
  11. Indulging in or encouraging any form of malpractice connected with examination or other school activities.
  12. Divulging confidential matters relating to school.
  13. Obstructing other members of the staff from lawful duties and indulging in any sort of agitation to coerce or embarrass the school authorities.
  14. Propagating through teaching lessons or otherwise communal or sectarian outlook or inciting or allowing any student to indulge in communal or sectarian activity.
  15. Making sustained neglect in correcting class work or home work.
  16. Absenting from work even though present in the school premises or absent without proper leave.

 

Service File and Confidential Rolls

  1. Individual Service File containing factual record of the employee, salary scale, increments, promotion, leave record, any disciplinary action or reward etc. is maintained for each employee as per the guidelines of MOE & ADEK. Employee’s signature is obtained for entries in the Service file.
  2. Annual confidential roll is maintained by the school for every employee including the Head of the Institution. The confidential roll will contain assessment of the work of the employee during the academic year including the results. Confidential rolls for the employees shall be based on the continuous appraisal submitted to the Principal along with the observations / conclusions drawn by the Principal.

 

Disciplinary Procedure
Memos (reminder, warning, show cause):
As the first step an employee whose case has been raised before the Principal for his /her non-conformity with school’s norms, will be issued a written memo. Depending on the case, the employee will have to respond to the memo within a stipulated time. Both the memo and the respond will be recorded in the employee’s service file. Further disciplinary proceeding will be initiated if genuine grounds are established.

Suspension:
The school Managing Committee may place an employee under suspension where.

  • The disciplinary proceeding against him/ her is pending.
  • A case against him / her in respect of any criminal offence is under investigation or trial.
  • Or he/she is charged with embezzlement.
  • Or he/she is charged with cruelty towards any student or any employee of the school.
  • Or he/she is charged with misbehavior towards any parent, guardian, student or employee of the school.
  • Or he/she is charged with a breach of any other Code of Conduct.
  • Non-compliance to the duty assigned.
  • No order for suspension shall remain in force for more than six months.
  • An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under any circumstances shall continue to remain in force until it is modified or revoked.

Penalties

  1. The following penalties may, for good and sufficient reasons, including the breach of one or more of the provisions of the Code of Conduct may be imposed upon an employee.
    a) Minor penalties:
    i) Censure.
    ii) Recovery from pay, the whole or any part of any pecuniary loss caused to the school by negligence or breach of orders.
    iii) Withholding of increment of pay
    b) Major Penalties:
    i) Reduction in rank.
    ii) Compulsory retirement.
    iii) Removal from service.

 

Procedure of Imposing Minor Penalty
No order to impose a minor penalty shall be made except after informing the employee of the proposal to take action against him/her and the allegation on which such action is proposed to be taken and except after giving to the employee an opportunity to make any representation against the proposed action.

Procedure for Imposing Major Penalty
No order to impose a major penalty shall be made except after a thorough inquiry is made.

  1. At the conclusion of the inquiry, the inquiry officer shall prepare a report of the inquiry, recording his findings on each of the charges together with the reasons thereof.
  2. The disciplinary authority shall consider the report of the inquiry and record its findings on each charge and if the disciplinary authority is of opinion that any of the major penalties should be imposed it shall:
    i) Furnish to the employee a copy of the report of the enquiry officer, where an inquiry has been made by such officer.
    ii) Give him/her notice in writing stating the action proposed to be taken in regard to him/her and calling upon him/her to submit within the specified time, not exceeding two weeks, such representation as he/she may wish to make against the proposed action.
    iii) On receipt of the representation, if any, made by the employee the disciplinary authority shall determine what penalty, if any, should be imposed on the employee and communicate its tentative decision to impose the penalty to the Managing Committee for its prior approval.
    iv) After considering the representation, made by the employee against the penalty, the disciplinary authority shall record its findings as to the penalty, which it proposes to impose on the employee and send its findings and decision to the Committee for its approval and while doing so the disciplinary authority shall furnish to the employee all relevant records of the case including the statement of allegations, charges framed against the employee, representation made by the employee, a copy of the inquiry report, where such inquiry was made and the proceedings of the disciplinary authority.
  3. No order with regard to the imposition of a major penalty shall be made by the disciplinary authority except after the receipt of the approval of the Managing Committee.

 

Payment of Salary and Allowances on Reinstatement

  1. When an employee has been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired from service, the Committee shall consider and make a specific order:a) With regard to the salary and allowances to be paid to the employee for the period of his / her absence from duty including the period of suspension preceding his / her dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement as the case may be.b) Whether or not the said period shall be treated as the period spent on duty.
  2. Where the Committee is of opinion that the employee who had been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired from service, has been fully exonerated, the employee shall be paid the full salary and allowances to which he / she would have been entitled had he / she not been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired from service or suspended prior to such dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement from service, as the case may be. Provided that where the Committee is of opinion that the termination of the proceedings instituted against the employee had been delayed due to reasons directly attributable to the employee, it may, after giving a reasonable opportunity to the employee to make representation in writing, that the employee shall be paid for the period of such delay proportionate to the salary and allowances, as may be determined.

 

Professional Development Plan

Dedicated teachers are life-long learners as well. Each day they unlearn the archaic and learn the new practices. They are eager to explore experiment and innovate methods of teaching that benefit their students to the maximum. Every educator must chalk out a professional development plan in order to identify specific teaching and learning goals.

Training programmes would be organized from time to time for the academic staff for enhancing and updating their professional competency. The school will identify suitable training programmes for its staff. They may be required to attend in-campus or out of campus training sessions, as the need may be. Teachers will be regularly assessed and evaluated for their performance and the progress they record in terms of teaching and learning outcome. Internal promotions will take in to account the rating achieved by each teacher.

Training and Development Policy
The School aims to provide training opportunities during the Non Instructional Working Days (NIWD) which will provide:

  • An induction programme which all staff will be required to undertake. It will assist the staff settle down into their new role/job.
  • A buddy or mentor is assigned to each fresh staff that gives guidance and stands as role model in his /her respective field.
  • A progressive training and development scheme to enable staff to develop relevant skills and acquire knowledge to underpin their current role and career aspirations.
  • Improvement plan through assessment and evaluation of performance from time to time – carried out by immediate superiors.
  • Have a discussion with the junior and senior teachers and find the areas for their improvement, doubt clearance and finalization of new methods / techniques of teaching and evaluation. Encourage the teachers to keep their own development plan and consider that also while designing and organizing the in-service training.

The topics for training may include the following:

* International benchmark practices in education.
* ADEK guidelines and specifications.
* Vision, Mission and values of the school.
* National curriculum and new approaches.
* Assessment and evaluation.
* New syllabus / textbooks/ subject empowerment.
* Differentiated learning / special needs.
* Information Technology / Technology Aided Learning.
* Teaching learning strategies / methods.
* Life skill education / health and safety education.
* Whole school priorities expressed in the school development plan.
* Communication skills etc.

Appraisal Policy

Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of an employee to explore and exploit the potential of a person for further growth and development. Performance appraisal is done in a systematic way as follows:

  1. The immediate superiors assess the performance of an employee and compare it with school’s targets and plans. Generally it is carried out through direct observation of the employee’s work and the feedback received from stakeholders like the students and parents.
  2. Based on the three / four tire report generated for each employee, a rating is assigned on the scale: Unsatisfactory / Acceptable / Good / Outstanding.
  3. Those standing below ‘Good’ are liable to get rigorous training, however, if the performance does not improve within a specified period of time, the employee will be relieved of his / her duties.

 

Objectives of Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal can be done with following objectives in mind:

  1. To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salaries raises, etc.
  2. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right job.
  3. To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and development.
  4. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.
  5. It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees.

 

Document Review and History
This Policy will be reviewed on 01/10/2020 and revised version will be submitted for approval.

Version Number Date of Issue Details
1.0 1 October 2019 Document created.
1.1 1 October 2020 Review