Reporting an absence

If you are unable to make a booking, you must report this via the app as soon as possible to ensure the school receives cover.

Here's how you do this:

1. Head to your Calendar in the Zen app

2. Select the relevant booking

3. Select 'Can't make it?'

4. Select the reason for your absence so that we can communicate this to the school

Reliability matters to schools

Schools rely on us to connect them with dependable and high-quality teaching staff like yourself. We strive to fulfil all bookings, as cancellations can cause huge disruptions to schools – most importantly to children.

It's crucial to consider the impact of cancellations on the schools we work with and the reputation of our service. We are DFE accredited and as such expect all of our staff to follow our Code of Conduct.

Repeated absences/unreliability shows an inadequate adherence to these guidelines and therefore we reserve the right to adjust the opportunities offered to you or reconsider our collaboration.

By informing us as soon as possible in the Zen App, we can make alternative arrangements for the school, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted experience.

Thank you for your understanding and commitment to providing a reliable service to the schools we serve. Together, we can uphold the highest standards of professionalism.

Late-reported absences

When you report a late absence (within 24hrs before the booking start time) and are booked in for the following day, we will ask you to confirm you’re going to be in.

We need to ensure that we don’t leave schools without cover, therefore you must confirm that the school can expect you. Failure to do so will result in being marked as absent and means you will forfeit pay.

What happens if you are absent multiple times?

As reliability and our service is so important to schools and children we track the number of your absences. If you are absent multiple times then this will affect your ability to work with Zen. Specifically see below the numbers we track on an ongoing basis.

• If you have more than 3 absences within an 8 week period, this could affect your ability to continue working with Zen.

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• You may not be able to continue working with Zen if, within an 8 week period:
  • You have 3 or more instances where you have called in absent with less than 24 hours notice

  • You have two or more instances where you have called in absent with less than 2 hours of the role starting

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• If you have 3 absences, you will need to speak to a member of the Zen team in a phone conversation to better understand the reasons and causes of these absences.

Contact us

The quickest (and best) way to record an absence is through the Zen app – recording absences elsewhere will count as a breach of our policy.

However if your sickness is long term, or have extenuating circumstances and would like to talk to someone about your absences, please contact us.