Out of Office Procedures
Coordinating schedules and coverage for our growing teams is at the forefront of our planning so that we continue delivering exceptional customer experiences. Whether you’re a member of the Implementation team or our Support teams, we all work on the front lines serving our customers every day and setting the right expectations for our availability both internally and externally.
Very critical to our business, is the health and well being of our team members. Not everyone can take PTO at the same time and we want to work to avoid the end of fiscal year rush to use or lose remaining balances. We encourage you to plan in advance but also allow yourself some time to be able to use as needed. Looking ahead and planning for PTO so that you get meaningful time off ensures that we are collectively working to take care of and support one another which allows us to effectively manage a good work/life balance amongst our crew.
Outlined below are the procedures to make sure that we’re tackling PTO schedules with fairness and that we’re considering all factors for coverage for important dates, go-lives and every day support of our internal and external customers. Not all requests will be approved automatically. We will always work to allow all requests as best as we can. But, there are some scenarios where we may ask you to look for another time frame.
Factors that play into approving a PTO request:
- Coverage needed due to others already having PTO approved on the date(s) you’re requesting
- Go-live schedule
- (e.g. For Implementation, you should not be requesting PTO the week before or during any go-live which includes the time until they’re transitioned to support.)
- Amount of PTO already taken.
- Max number of more senior team members already have approved PTO on requesting date(s). Not only is it vital to have basic coverage, but that we also have enough people to support the team working.
- Coordinating the JHA Holiday Schedule.
- (e.g. For Support, the on call FF would handle any urgent cases. In general, any coverage for Holidays that deviate from matching the schedule of the Federal Reserve will be accounted for ahead of time.)
To request time off, please complete this form. The leadership team reviews the submitted requests (by date/time stamp) on a weekly basis and processes the requests by notifying you via Slack if your request has been approved or if we’d like to work with you on another time due to the overall availability.
Implementation team
External
Open items
Before you’re out of office, you need to ensure your institution is in a good state and buttoned up prior to departure.
- All open questions should be answered.
- Any reported issues should be opened in Jira and linked to cards accordingly, and all open issues should have an update to the fi.
- Any other time sensitive tasks should be completed or handed off to your back up.
- An overall current status update should be posted to Basecamp.
- If you need help with this, raise the flag.
Assign backup
If an institution is very active, high needs, or is in the Acceptance Testing phase, you’ll need to assign a backup implementation coordinator to ensure the institution’s issues receive attention and their questions answered. Reminder: you should not be requesting PTO the week before or during any go-live which includes the time until they’re transitioned to support. If exceptions need to be made here, please raise the flag to your team lead.
To find a backup implementation coordinator, survey the team for volunteers in the #team-apps-implementation Slack channel. You’ll want to start working on a backup as soon as you know about your PTO so everyone can plan accordingly. While last minute PTO can come up, it’s expected that you find a back up at least 2-3 weeks prior to PTO. If you cannot find a backup for your institutions, please raise the flag to your team lead.
Basecamp message
You’ll want to let all of the institutions you’re working with know you’ll be out of the office, the dates you’ll be gone and what they should do in the event they need to contact someone while you’re out. You should notify the institution several weeks in advance, if possible, of any scheduled PTO and then again a few days prior to being out.
Template messages
Initial notification:
Head’s up - I will be out of the office [insert date/s] - I will send a current status prior to heading out so that you know where everything is at on our side and any items that we may be awaiting further detail from your team. Just wanted to get that on your radar - more to come!
Follow up before out:
Good morning/afternoon, I am reaching out to remind you I’ll be out of the office [insert date]. During this time, please tag [direct sub implementation coordinator or bannoimplementation@jackhenry.com] if you have any questions or need any assistance. [Insert current status of the project, remind institution of any tasks that need to be completed, etc] Thanks!
Email responder
Enable your out of office email responder and detail the dates you’ll be out of office and how to engage the implementation team.
Template email responder
I will be out of the office from [insert date/s]. For immediate assistance, please email the Banno Implementation team at BannoImplementation@jackhenry.com or I will respond to your email as soon as I’m able upon my return.
Internal
PTO calendar
Once you’ve received approval for your PTO request, please ensure that your PTO is on the staff PTO calendar, as well as your own calendar. Additionally, you should CC your secondary email address banno.com/jackhenry.com on PTO events for maximum visibility to all JHA employees.
HCM
Make sure to login to HCM and record your time for payroll. This will ensure your hours are accurately tracked in the system.
Team awareness
Drop a note in the #team-apps-implementation Slack channel to ensure everyone is aware you’ll be out of office.
Slack status
Update your Slack to indicate your PTO schedule.
MS Teams
Update your status here for JHA employee visibility and include an out of office message with your PTO start and end dates.
Support
External
Email responder
Enable your out of office email responder, detail the dates you’ll be out of office, and detail how to engage the implementation team.
Template email responder
Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office with no access to email from [insert date/s]. For assistance with an existing support case, please access the case and click “Contact Me Regarding This Problem” to prompt a callback request for our support team. For new issues, please open a new support case in the ForClients Portal or by contacting Jack Henry Support at 1-800-299-4222. Thanks!
jSource
Ensure any cases are reassigned if necessary and all cases contain updates prior to being out of office. A “travel note” can be added. This is a good practice, and should be accompanied with the understanding that the Support rep is going to be out of the office.
Template case note example
I will be out of the office from [insert date/s]. Our team will be watching over my queue. If you need an update, you can click the “Contact Me Regarding This Problem” link to prompt a callback request for our support team. Or, you can request a call back through the call center by dialing 1-800-299-4222. Thanks!
Worker availability template message example
I will be out of the office with no access to case messaging from (Start Date) to (End Date).
Internal
PTO calendar
Ensure that your PTO is on the staff PTO calendar, as well as your own calendar. Additionally, you should CC your secondary email address banno.com/jackhenry.com on PTO events for maximum visibility to all JHA employees.
HCM
Make sure to login to HCM and record your time for payroll. This will ensure your hours are accurately tracked in the system.
Team awareness
Drop a note in the #team-apps-support Slack channel to ensure everyone is aware that you’ll be out of office.
Open PRs
Open pull requests, that if merged/ran would impact a customer, should be run and customer updated prior to being out of office. If you need help with this, please raise the flag.
Slack status
Update your Slack to indicate your PTO schedule.
Microsoft (MS) Teams
Update your status here for JHA employee visibility and include an out of office message with your PTO start and end dates.
FAQ
How do we ensure the same people don’t get the same holidays off every year?
Some of this will have to go by preference. It may be the case that someone celebrates holiday’s differently so if we have individuals who are comfortable with being a coverage person, we will obviously be very open to that. We don’t anticipate that we’ll have anyone taking advantage of the system. But we will have record of who took what when form a historical perspective to make sure we get good balance and address any situations that come up.
What happens if I have a last minute request before/after the last review of submitted PTO requests? (ex: slower day to take the afternoon, appointments, sick, etc)
PTO requests are reviewed every Friday. If you are requesting PTO after the last review and before the next, work with your team lead to understand feasibility. Again, this process isn’t to remove any flexibility of being able to do last minute PTO use, but help for better planning.