General Guidelines
All employees are urged to become familiar with The University rules and standards of conduct and are expected to follow these rules and standards faithfully in doing their own jobs and conducting their work.
General Hours of work
The normal hours are from 0900 hours to 1700 hours. There shall be a lunch break of an hour on all working days. However different campuses may follow different timings that best suits their location depending on various factors. You may be required to follow different work hours under special circumstances. Your immediate/ reporting head is to be consulted if there are any questions about work hours or if any change is required.
Unless otherwise stated specifically in the terms of appointment, every employee is a whole-time employee of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and may be called upon to perform such duties, as may be assigned by competent authority, beyond scheduled working hours and on Closed Holidays and Sundays. These duties shall inter-alia include attendance at meetings of Committees to which an employee may be appointed by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
Shift / Duty Hours for Employees of Amrita Health Sciences Campus, Kochi
Shift: The rules regarding working hours, shifts, weekly holidays, rest intervals, etc. shall be in accordance with the rules applicable for the purpose, as prescribed by the Management.
Duty Hours: Duty hours of work in each department will be fixed by the concerned HOD and may be changed for the purpose of rotation to suit the requirements of AIMS. Employee shall not object to split duty hours as per the requirements of the concerned Department. Management has the right to introduce additional shifts or modify the existing shifts in the exigencies of work.
Employees shall not change their shifts on their own, without permission from the concerned HOD.
Attendance
The University expects employees to be ready to work at the beginning of assigned daily work hours, and to reasonably complete it by the end of assigned work hours. They are to religiously mark their attendance through the bio‐metric attendance system or in the register book as instructed.
Work Schedule
Unless otherwise specified, regular full‐time employees are expected to work only during the working hours as may be specified.
Absence and Punctuality
From time to time, it may be necessary for an employee to be late or absent from work. The University is aware that emergencies, illnesses, or pressing personal issues that cannot be scheduled outside work hours may arise. It is the responsibility of all employees to contact all affected parties if they will be absent or late and seek permission for late attendance. Unauthorized absence will be viewed seriously and attract strict disciplinary action.
Unscheduled Absence
Absence from work for three (03) consecutive days without notifying the superiors or the Human Resources Department will be considered sufficient to initiate disciplinary action against the employee.
Meal and Break Periods
Employees are allowed a one‐hour lunch break generally between the hours of 1300 hrs‐1400 hrs. or according to work schedule as may be fixed.
The University encourages employees to take a rest period of ten minutes in the morning work period and ten minutes in the afternoon work period.
Harassment Policy
There shall be no bullying or harassment and everyone is free to work and participate in the activities of AVV without fear of harassment, bullying or intimidation. The University does not tolerate workplace harassment. Workplace harassment can take many forms. It may be, but is not limited to, words, signs, offensive jokes, cartoons, pictures, posters, e‐mail jokes or statements, pranks, intimidation, physical assaults or contact, or violence.
Gender Harassment Policy
The university has a zero-tolerance policy on gender harassment, which may include unwelcome advances, requests for immoral /unsocial/unethical favors, or other unwelcome verbal or physical contact when such conduct creates an unpleasant or offensive, hostile, and intimidating working environment and prevents an individual from effectively performing the duties of their position. Every employee must ensure that their conduct with fellow employees must be of accepted social, moral, ethical and social norms. Any act contrary, will be deplorable and will be dealt with sternly.
Relationships with Other Members of Staff, Students and Other Stakeholders
While private lives of staff shall not be a matter of jurisdiction, every staff must ensure that they must at no point reflect badly on the reputation of AVV and shall be strictly out of work place.
Members of staff who are relatives or who have a close personal relationship should not normally have a supervisory, assessing or authorising relationship with each other.
Employees must inform the HR Dept if they have a close personal relationship with another employee, a student, or a stake holder of AVV which could be considered by colleagues, students or others, as impacting on the way they conduct themselves at work.
Violence at Workplace
The University prohibits any act of workplace violence and will have a zero-tolerance policy. Consistent with this, acts or threats of physical violence, including intimidation, harassment, and/or coercion, which involve or affect the University or which occur on Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, will not be tolerated.
Confidential Information and Non‐disclosure
Employment with the University shall invariably require employees to agree that they will not disclose or use any of the University’s confidential information, either during or after their employment. The University sincerely hopes that its relationship with its employees will be long term and mutually rewarding. However, employment with the University assumes an obligation to maintain confidentiality, even after an employee quits the University’s employment. To this effect every employee shall enter into an agreement which will also require employees belong to the Sciences fraternity to separately disclose their inventions prior to joining Amrita and those inventions and research papers after joining Amrita as that of the sole property of Amrita.
Ethical Standards
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham insists on the highest ethical standards and human values. When faced with ethical issues, employees are expected to make the right professional decision consistent with the University’s principles and standards.
Dress Code & ID Card display
Employees of the University are expected to present themselves in a clean and professional appearance, both inside and outside the University. Dressing in a fashion that is clearly unprofessional, inconsistent with contemporary socially accepted traditions, and which is deemed improper and unsafe, or that negatively affects Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s reputation or image is not acceptable and do not go by the culture. It is mandatory for all employees to display in person, the ID card issued by the university, during hours of work. This will also apply to employees who may represent the university at various forums within and outside the university.
Academic integrity
AVV shall always strive to maintain the highest standards in all the teaching and research that it undertakes, and staff must not conduct themselves in ways that may undermine the academic standards of its awards or the conduct and dissemination of its research.
Use of Office Equipment
AVV will provide employees with the equipment needed to do their job. None of this equipment should be used for personal use, nor removed from the physical confines of University—unless it is approved for a job that specifically requires use of University equipment outside the physical facility.
Use of Computer, Phone, and Mail
The University property, including computers, phones, electronic mail, and voice mail, should be used only for conducting the University’s official work. Incidental and occasional personal use of company computers, phones, or electronic mail and voice mail systems is permitted, but information and messages stored in these systems will be treated no differently from other official‐related information and messages.
Use of Internet
Employees are responsible for using the Internet in a manner that is ethical and lawful. Use of the Internet must solely be for official purposes and must not interfere with employee productivity.
Publication of Articles
No employee shall publish any article written by him on any matter whatsoever in Newspapers, Journals or other publications, without the written permission from the management, provided such permission shall not be necessary for articles that has no bearing on any matter concerning AMRITA.
Use of Computer Software
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham does not condone the illegal duplication of software. The copyright law is clear. The copyright holder is given certain exclusive rights, including the right to make and distribute copies. “It is illegal to make or distribute copies of copyrighted material without authorization”
The only exception is the user’s right to make a backup copy for archival purposes.
Printer & Photocopier, Letter Head usage
Employees should understand the importance of using the office equipment economically. Letter Heads are to be used with the permission of the Reporting Managers only. Letter Heads are to be utilized for official purposes only and not to be left around work stations unattended. Also, when not in use Letter Heads to be kept under Lock and Key.
Use of Official Telephone
Telephones are intended for the use of conducting the University’s day to day affairs. Personal usage during business hours is discouraged except for extreme emergencies. All personal telephone calls should be kept brief to avoid congestion on the telephone line.
Use of Personal Cell phones at workplace
As far as possible, uses of personal cell phones are to be avoided or restricted to bare minimum unless it becomes extremely important in a particular situation. Conversations during personal calls should be kept brief and crisp to avoid distraction to other employees at work, to maintain office decorum and observance of work etiquette. It is advised that employees keep their cell phones on silent/vibration mode or to an extent where it is audible to self only and not to employees around.
Smoking
Smoking of any kind is NOT PERMITTED and STRICTLY PROHIBHITED inside any of the University campuses.
Gambling
Gambling activities of any nature must not be conducted within the AVV premises
Alcohol and Substance Abuse
It is the policy of the University that the workplace and the campus will be free of known kinds of substance abuse and alcoholic beverages. The university has a zero-tolerance policy in this regard. In addition to damage to respiratory and immune systems, malnutrition, seizures, loss of brain function, liver damage, and kidney damage, the abuse of drugs and alcohol has been proven to impair the coordination, reaction time, emotional stability, and judgment of the user. This could have tragic consequences where demanding or stressful work situations call for quick and sound decisions to be made.
Conduct outside work
AVV does not dictate how employees conduct themselves in their personal lives outside work. However, unlawful, anti-social or other conduct by employees which may jeopardise its reputation or position will be dealt with through the disciplinary procedure.
Intellectual property
Where appropriate the rights to personal benefit from inventions, discoveries and patents are defined in the Intellectual Property policy.
The copyright in any work or design compiled, edited or otherwise brought into existence by an employee as a ‘scholarly work’ produced in furtherance of his/her professional career shall belong to AVV. ‘Scholarly work’ includes items such as books, contributions to books, articles and conference papers, and shall be construed in the light of the common understanding of the phrase in higher education.
The copyright in any material produced by employees for their personal use and reference, including as an aid to teaching, shall belong to the employee.
However, the copyright in course materials produced by employees in the course of their employment for the purposes of the curriculum of a course run by AVV and produced, used or disseminated by AVV shall be considered as its property, as well as the outcomes from research.
Conflicts of interest
The highest standards of behaviour are also expected in all areas of AVV end-to-end cycle as an employee, especially where individuals are in positions to make decisions which may have significant impact on others. In all such cases it is important that decisions are taken in a fair and balanced way that can withstand external scrutiny. Conflicts of interest should be identified so that individuals are not involved in decisions where their actions could be seen as biased.
Access to confidential information
AVV shall operate as far as possible in a transparent environment. However, there will be instances when individuals, through their positions as members of committees, selectors/recruiters, managers etc., become aware of confidential information, either about other individuals or in connection with such activities which require confidentiality. Employees should be aware of the need to keep such matters confidential and to respect the proper channels of communication for such information.
Prevention and detection of fraud
The University has a policy for the prevention and detection of fraud, corruption and other irregularities. All staff have a role to play in preventing fraud and the University policy.
Gifts
Advance approval from management is required before an employee may accept or solicit a gift of any kind from any organization. Employees are also not permitted to give unauthorized gifts to any person or organization without the prior approval of the management.
Solicitations and Distributions
Solicitation for any cause during working time and in working areas is not permitted. Employees are not permitted to distribute any non‐official literature in work areas at any time during working time.
Complaint Procedure & Grievances
Employees who have a job‐related issue, question, or complaint should first discuss it with their immediate supervisor. If the issue cannot be resolved at this level, the University encourages employees to contact the Human Resources Department. Employees who observe, learn of, or, in good faith, suspect a violation of the Standards of Conduct of the University, should immediately report the violation in accordance with the following procedures:
- Asfaraspossiblethecomplainantshouldnotpostananonymous
- ComplaintsshouldbeaddressedtotheDirector‐HumanResources, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
- EmployeesareencouragedtohandoverthecomplaintsinpersontotheDirector‐Human
Resources depending on the nature and gravity of the complaint.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has a mechanism to address the grievances of employees at work should they experience any issues that may have a direct bearing on them in effectively discharging their duties and responsibilities at Amrita. Any such grievance should be brought to the notice of the concerned HoDs who shall take all measures to address the issue.
Corrective Procedure
Unacceptable behavior that does not lead to immediate dismissal may be dealt with in any of the following manners: (a) Counselling, (b) Oral Reminder, (c) Written Warning, (d) Decision‐Making Paid Leave/Counseling Session, (d) suspension pending investigation.
Misconduct
An employee, who commits an act of misconduct, or, violates the sanctity of the University, or any of its policies, detrimental or otherwise, will be dealt with in accordance with the university rules and regulations. The university reserves the right to take the appropriate disciplinary action as may deem fit.
Transfer Policy
AVV due to administrative or functional exigencies may transfer an employee to any other location as part of the employment. The university also recognizes that a desire for career growth or personal needs may lead an employee to request a transfer to another position. However, in such cases the employee will be facilitated with a change in location but not on transfer but as a case of fresh appointment at the new locations and will not be considered as transfer of service.
Outside Employment
Employees shall not take an outside job, either for pay or as a donation of their personal time nor will employees work on their own or any such assignments if it competes or interferes in any way with the official work of the University.
Employment Termination/Resignation
After the application of disciplinary steps, if it is determined by management that an employee’s performance does not improve, or if the employee is again in violation of the University practices, rules, or standards of conduct, Leave, employment with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham will be terminated.
Employees may tender resignation serving three month’s notice period. Members of faculty can only tender resignation at the end of a semester.
Exit Interview
In a voluntary separation situation, the University management would like to conduct an exit interview to discuss the employee’s reasons for leaving and any other impressions that the employee may have about the University.
Return of University Property
Any of the University property issued to employees, such as computer equipment, keys, employee ID card, must be returned back to the University at the time of relieving. Employees will be responsible for any lost or damaged items based on which the employee will be issued the No Dues Certificate to settle the full and final accounts.
