Welcome to the home page of the Absence Management Online Help. On these pages, you will find detailed information on managing your absences and working hours, relevant legal references, as well as our contact details.
The Absence Management System enables EPFL to meet its responsibilities as an employer, both in terms of third-party funding requirements and the protection of employee health by ensuring adequate rest periods. The data collected is used in particular for budgetary provisions and for the various statistics (including the social report) produced by EPFL.
All EPFL employees are required to record their absences (worked and non-worked time) on a regular basis in the Absence Management System.
- Standardise time management within EPFL
- Enforce the Rules and Regulations concerning Working Time Managament (RGT), which is part of the POLYLEX legal documents (LEX 4.1.4)
- Enable EPFL to carry out its employer’s legal obligations relating to vacation, long term absences and so on
- Provide units with a managerial and follow-up tool of their team
- Provide compulsory reporting, especially for research projects benefiting from external funding
- Enable EPFL to issue various reports and statistics for social evaluation
- Meet the needs of IPSAS standards in relations to financial provisions
- Rules ans Regulations concerning Working Time Management [LEX 4.1.4, 1st January 2013, status as at 1st January 2025] (PDF)
- Directive on Terms of Employment of EPFL Assistants [LEX 4.4.1] (PDF) – See article 5 regarding the PhD students’ holiday leave
- Ordonnance sur le personnel du domaine des Ecoles polytechniques fédérales [LEX 4.1.0.4] (in French only)
- Loi sur le personnel de la Confédération [LPers, LEX 4.1.0.1] (in French only)
The following information is available on the EPFL People Experience and Operations webpages:
- 2026 Public Holiday Calendar (PDF)
- Holidays & Working Time 2026 (PDF)
- Unpaid Leaves
- Teleworking
- Maternity Leave
- Other ‘s Parent Leave
- Special Leave (including long term child care leave)
- Loss of Earnings Insurance for military or civil service, “cours de répétition” and Jeunesse & Sport
- Additional information for holiday management (PDF)
Access Restricted to Staff:
→ HR Documents and Forms in the People Administration Intranet
→ Knowledge Base of ServiceNow about the Sesame Portal
Absence Management in Detail
Regular recording of absences helps facilitate work organization within teams and promotes the exchange of information. Employees have continuous access to data that is updated on a daily basis.
Information for Unit Managers
Find the key information you need to review and analyze your employees’ absence balances, generate reports, and verify vacation entitlements at different points in time.
Contact
Absence Management Helpdesk
E-mail:[email protected]
Phone:
+41 21 693 38 65 (Diana Freese)
+41 21 693 38 85 (Pascale Guillot)