Time Off and Leave Policies

Purpose		This policy defines Zendesk’s employee leave policies and procedures.
Scope		This policy applies to all UK employees but can vary based on employee type, please review the policy carefully.  Please contact People Ops if you have any questions about the application of this policy to you. This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and Zendesk may amend this policy from time to time to include the variation or withdrawal of any benefit.

 

Table of Contents

• Annual Leave
• Additional Leave for Long Tenure
• Sick Leave
• Family Leaves
• Maternity Leave
• Paternity Leave
• Adoption Leave
• Shared Parental Leave 
• Global Bereavement Leave
• Other Unpaid Leave

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Annual Leave

All full time permanent employees have 25 days paid leave per annum, excluding public holidays. Part time employees are entitled to annual leave (on a pro-rata basis) based on their normal working hours. Please request any time off through Workday as far in advance as possible and discuss all leave requests with your line manager. 

Can I carry my unused Annual Leave / PTO into the following year?

We work hard at Zendesk and we deserve time off! We really encourage you to try and take all your PTO within the calendar year, that’s what it’s there for. But hey, maybe you didn’t get to use all your PTO this year and you’ll try better next year, what can you do? Well, you can carry up to a maximum of 5 days into the following year (with possible exceptions for specific situations such as maternity leave, paternity leave and long-term sick leave).

Workday has got you covered - unused PTO (up to 5 days) will automatically carry over and is available to be used up until and including March 31st. As of April 1st, any unused carryover days will expire, never to be seen again! So if you are carrying over PTO, make sure you take those days within the first 3 months of the year.

If you are unable to take your annual leave within this timeframe due to the dates on which any family leave falls, please raise a ticket by emailing [e-mail].

Please consult your Employment Agreement for details around public holidays.

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Additional Leave for Long Tenure

Did you know that if you're at Zendesk for 2 or more years, we like to give you extra time off?!

You.Are.Welcome!!

Take a look at the table below - once you meet the minimum service requirement, the extra day will be added to your workday balance the following month! It happens automatically, as if like magic!

Length of service	Number of additional days
2 years	1 day
4 years	2 days
6 years	3 days
8 years	4 days

If you have any further questions, please raise a ticket by emailing [e-mail].
Thanks for staying with us :)

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Sick Leave

We know that from time to time employees may need to take time off work due to sickness. It's important that you or your manager logs your sick leave days on Workday for record. After 7 days of sickness, you must provide your People Ops with a medical cert from your doctor. This cert will be saved on your file in line with our data protection policy and kept confidential.

Zendesk will pay up to 10 sick days in a 12 month period. Any sick pay granted over and above this will be on a discretionary basis. Please refer to your employment agreement for more information.

If you have any questions on the sick leave policy, please open a ticket with [e-mail]. 

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Family Leaves

Here are some useful details about family leave in the UK and more specifically within Zendesk. We suggest checking out the Global Leave of Absence Guide and UK - Leave of Absence Checklist for more information and resources to support you during your leave.

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Maternity Leave

If you or your partner are pregnant while in employment, you are entitled to take time off to care for your new arrival. The entitlement to a basic period of maternity leave from employment extends to all birthing parents, regardless of how long you have been working for the organisation.

You are entitled to 26 weeks of ‘ordinary’ maternity leave in the UK plus a further entitlement of 26 weeks of ‘additional’ leave, a total of 52 weeks in all. You don’t have to take all of this, however by law you are required to take at least two weeks off work following birth.

Eligible employees will receive statutory maternity pay for up to 39 weeks. Zendesk will top up your benefit so that you receive your regular monthly wage during the first 22 weeks of your maternity leave.

You can use this handy calculator (linked) to see what your maternity leave and pay may be.

There’s lots of information available here on the UK Government website (linked).

The application form for Maternity Benefit is called the MATB1 and you’ll normally receive a signed copy of this from your doctor or midwife around about the time of your 20-week scan.  You will need to hand this to HR when you get it so your maternity pay can be processed.

Whilst you are on leave, all your benefits and employment rights are protected. Below are some frequently asked questions that you might find useful:

What happens to my Vitality membership whilst I’m on maternity leave?

Don’t worry - if you have signed up to Vitality you will continue to be covered throughout your leave.  Once your baby is born, don’t forget to email [e-mail] with their name and date of birth and we can make sure they are added to your plan.

What happens to my pension whilst I’m out on leave?

Your contributions will continue as normal during your paid period of leave. However, whilst you have no earnings, all contributions cease (employee and employer) but you’ll still accrue pensionable service during your leave

What should I do about my accrued PTO whilst on leave?

It is recommended that you take some accrued PTO at the end of your maternity leave. Depending on how long you have been out of the business, you may accrue and carry over a significant amount of days. If you return to work late in the calendar year it may not be possible to take all of your PTO once returned. This is why we recommend you take at a minimum your accrued public holidays, any carry over from the previous year and some of your accrued PTO in the year to date. Please discuss this with your manager so you can balance personal and business considerations in making this decision.

Do I need to record my family leave dates on Workday?

Yes! Please enter your leave dates as soon as you have them by selecting the ‘Time Off’ worklet on your Workday homepage and selecting ‘Leave of Absence’, you can input your start and end dates there.

Can I take time off to attend antenatal classes?

Absolutely, please let your manager know the dates and times at least 2 weeks in advance. Pregnant employees are entitled to reasonable paid time off for antenatal care and this includes travel time. Fathers and partners of pregnant women are entitled to unpaid time off to attend two ante-natal appointments (time off is capped at six and a half hours for each appointment).

Similarly, if you are adopting a child you are allowed time off for adoption appointments and surrogacy parents will be allowed unpaid time off for two antenatal visits.

Health and Safety

We want to ensure that you and your baby are always safe before you go out on leave. Please let the Workplace Experience team know if there’s anything they can do to make your working environment more comfortable.

If you have any other questions, please reach out to [e-mail].

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Paternity Leave

Any father, a husband or partner of the mother (or adopter), a child’s adopter or the intended parent of the child is entitled to take time off to care for your new arrival.

Zendesk provides 16 weeks of fully paid leave for you to bond with your newborn baby or adopted child. During this time, you will receive 100% of your base pay. For anyone with a variable sales element to their compensation, please refer to the Sales Compensation Parental Leave Policy for more information on how your leave will impact your variable pay.

If you are soon to become a parent:

• Notify your manager of the expected date of birth and confirm how much leave and in how many blocks you will be taking.
• Once agreed with your manager, you should provide [e-mail] with a copy of a medical certificate confirming your partner's expected due date and confirm the dates of paternity leave you plan to take.
• The application form for Paternity Benefits is called the SC3 and you can apply for this at any point before you go on leave.  Just visit this link, fill out the form and send a copy to [e-mail]. 

You may use your PTO entitlement to extend your paternity leave. You may request PTO as normal via Workday. Please discuss this with your manager so you can balance personal and business considerations in making this decision.

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Adoption Leave

If you elect to adopt while in employment, you are entitled to take time off to care for and bond with your newly adopted child. The entitlement to a basic period of adoption leave from employment extends to all adoptive parents, regardless of how long you have been working for the organisation. Parents who opt to have a child through a surrogacy arrangement are also entitled to statutory adoptive leave.

The basic adoptive leave entitlement is 26 weeks of ‘ordinary’ adoption leave in the UK plus a further entitlement of 26 weeks of ‘additional’ leave, a total of 52 weeks in all. Adoption leave can start: 

• up to 14 days before the date the child starts living with you (UK adoptions)
• when the child arrives in the UK or within 28 days of this date (overseas adoptions)
• the day the child’s born or the day after (if you’ve used a surrogate to have a child)

You must notify PeopleOps within 28 days if the date of placement (or UK arrival date for overseas adoptions) changes. You must give your manager and PeopleOps at least 8 weeks’ notice if you want to change your return to work date.

Eligible employees will receive statutory adoption pay for up to 39 weeks. Zendesk will top up your benefit so that you receive your regular monthly wage during the first 22 weeks of your adoption leave.

Employees who are eligible for adoption leave are also eligible to take shared parental leave by curtailing adoption leave after 2 weeks and sharing the remaining 50 weeks in the same way as applies to birth mothers and their partner/father of the child.

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Shared Parental Leave 

You may be entitled to Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) - this allows both parents to share the responsibility of raising a newborn baby, allowing one partner to return to work.

If you’re eligible you can take:

• the remaining leave as SPL (50 weeks minus any weeks of maternity or adoption leave)
• the remaining pay as ShPP (37 weeks minus any weeks of maternity pay, maternity allowance or adoption pay).

Eligible employees may elect to end the birthing parent’s maternity leave after 2 weeks and share the remaining 50 weeks as shared parental leave. Statutory shared parental pay is payable during a period of shared parental leave. It is available to share between the employees taking shared parental leave for up to 37 weeks in total (as the birthing parent must take 2 weeks’ compulsory maternity leave). 

Both SPL and ShPP are relatively recent additions to UK law so if you’re interested in finding out more, please discuss this with your People Partner.

You can use this handy calculator to find out if you are eligible for paternity or shared parental leave and how much pay you can get if you take leave. There’s lots of helpful information also available here. 

While you are on leave, all your benefits and employment rights are protected. For some frequently asked questions that you might find useful check out the UK - Leave of Absence FAQ article. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to [e-mail].

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Global Bereavement Leave

The death of a family member or a close friend can be a devastating time and we recognise that every employee’s experience of grief and loss is unique. Should you lose someone close to you, please reach out to your line manager and HR so we can understand your needs and support you through it. Employees may take up to 10 working days (per loss) of paid time following the death of an immediate family member or 3 working days (per loss) for an extended family member or friend. 

You are eligible to take time off for bereavement starting on your first day with Zendesk. It can be taken as one block or intermittently, but must be taken and in full-day increments. Bereavement can be coupled with other time off benefits such as vacation and sick leave and must be approved by your immediate manager. Bereavement is not an accrued benefit and will not be cashed out if it is not used. There is no impact to your pay or benefits while on bereavement.

Procedure to Take Bereavement Leave

Speak with your manager about your need for bereavement leave. Bereavement leave needs to be requested in Workday as well. If you are unable to add the request before taking leave, you may do so on your return. This can be done using the designation of “Bereavement Leave” option.  For instructions on how to enter the time off check out this helpful Workday Job Aid in HR Society.

You may also contact [e-mail] if you need assistance.

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Other Unpaid Leave

In addition to the leave mentioned previously, you are entitled to the following unpaid leave: 

• Emergency Time Off for Dependents 
• Personal Leave Without Pay
• Unpaid Parental Leave
• Public Duties Leave

Any other conditions and leave not mentioned previously will be considered unpaid.

Please discuss any type of leave arrangement or any questions about leave arrangements with your manager and PeopleOps. 

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Please remember Zendesk’s Records Retention and Deletion policy for Gmail and Zoom will apply during your leave period. Please be sure to save any emails and/or recordings that you wish to keep prior to going on leave.

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Version History 

All changes made to this document should be recorded below. 

Version	Changed by	Approved by	Approval date	Sections modified
1.0	N/A	Evangeline Mendiola	01.13.2022	N/A
1.1	Natalia Nizioł	Rebecca Brennan	1 Jul 2022	Maternity Leave