Tips and Tricks for your pre-Christmas to-do list

December is upon us – and there are only about two weeks left until Christmas! The period between Christmas and New Year will give many of us an opportunity to relax and spend a few days away from the office. Some people will still be working, of course, though things will hopefully be fairly quiet over the festive period.

However you plan to see out the year, there are a few things we all need to do before the holidays get underway. Here are some of the key points to remember:

Record your working time

Those of you who record your working time in ETHIS need to complete your records for the whole of 2021 by 24 December 2021 at the latest. Remember that any requests for absences need to be processed before you complete your records for the year. If you are planning to work between Christmas and New Year, please enter those working hours in advance. If you do not end up working the hours you planned, you can make up any differences in the new year. More information about the year-end-process.

Expenses and invoices

Please remember to submit any expense claims and settle any outstanding invoices in plenty of time before the end of the year.

Postal services

Please post things early if you want them to arrive in time for Christmas. See this article for more details. And please be careful what you send: many people are (again) working from home, so we recommend that you do not post any perishable gifts. It would be a pity for some lovely Christmas sweet treat to go rock-hard before the recipient has the chance to enjoy it!

Out of office message

Although lots of people will be enjoying a few days off work from 24 December, it’s still important that you activate your out of office reply in Outlook. If someone does happen to send you an email between Christmas and New Year, you won’t have to worry about them impatiently waiting for your reply!

Coronavirus

Unfortunately, it is highly likely that the pandemic will accompany us throughout the holiday season. Please note, however, that there will be no replies to any messages or requests sent to or between 24 December 2021 and 2 January 2022. If you have any questions about the Covid-19 pandemic during this period, please get in touch with the relevant cantonal authority (contact tracing hotline for the canton of Zurich: +41 44 404 52 52) or with the FOPH (coronavirus information hotline: +41 58 463 00 00).

Office/workplace

Before you leave your workplace at ETH for the holidays, please check the following:

• Are all valuables locked away and hazardous materials stowed in a safe place?
• Are all the doors and windows properly closed?
• Have you extinguished any and all candles?
• Have you turned off all the lights?
• Are all the electrical appliances switched off?
• Are any devices still in standby mode?

If you are working at ETH between Christmas and New Year, please remember the following:

• It is not permitted to carry out hazardous work alone.
• The Emergency Desk is staffed 24 hours a day, even during the holidays. To call the Emergency Desk, dial 888 (from internal phones) or +41 44 342 11 88 (from external connections or mobile phones).

Opening hours and timetables

If you do intend to come into ETH between Christmas and New Year, make sure to check the holiday opening hours. Please remember that the eLink shuttle bus will not be operating between Christmas and New Year. See here for more details.