On the back of reports about difficulties encountered by workers who need to complete timesheets, and by supervisors who need to approve, we are pleased to announce the launch of two surveys related to the use of timesheets for casual workers involved in teaching at Heriot-Watt.

We are not limiting the responses to UCU members so please feel free to share the links as widely as you can. We hope that widening the eligibility beyond existing members will help demonstrate the work we do, and hopefully encourage new members to join.

We are interested to hear from any staff or students (including undergraduate helpers) who undertake this type of work and from their supervisors so please take a few minutes to complete the appropriate survey via the link sent out by email. 

Both survey forms have more details about the work we are asking about, and they will remain open until Monday 30 June.

If you have not received a link to the surveys please contact either of Dan Green or Lena Biermann.

We hope to use the results of both surveys to create some concrete recommendations for the university to improve the experience for these workers and the staff responsible for them. The more responses we have the more robust these recommendations can be.

A reminder too that we are looking for a new PGR/Casualised Members Rep (alongside a few other roles up for election). Nominations can be accepted from the floor at the upcoming AGM on Wednesday 18 June from 13:00-15:00. If you have not received an email invite to the meeting with a Zoom link please contact the branch office. You can also join the meeting in person in room ECG34.

If you would be interested in finding out more about the role or if you know anyone who may be interested, please get in touch.

We will update members in due course about the results of these surveys and the outcomes that follow.