Here's what you need to know to plan for the 2023 holiday closing

Announcements / 12.14.23

Broad closes each year during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, giving Broadies time away from work to rest and enjoy the holidays. This year, Broad will be closed beginning Friday, December 22, reopening on Tuesday, January 2.

Bue background with text "Prepare for the holiday closing"

Broad closes each year during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, giving Broadies time away from work to rest and enjoy the holidays. This year, Broad will be closed beginning Friday, December 22, reopening on Tuesday, January 2.

The holiday closing is just that: a closing. In general, think of it as similar to a long weekend: no administrative staff will be on site. Assume that Broad staff will not be reachable by phone or responding to email (except for those who are in roles that require them to be on call).

Below, you'll find the information you need to plan for Broad’s closing.

Note that an "emergency" is defined as a situation posing an immediate danger to Broad personnel, property, or interests. (As always, you should call 911 in the event of a life-threatening emergency or the Security hotline at x7777 for a non-life-threatening emergency.)

Communications and Broad Discovery Center

The team's usual services, including event publicity, graphic design, and Web site creation, will not be available. However, media relations staff will be accessible in the event of an urgent matter requiring their attention.

Staff will monitor communications@broadinstitute.org and events@broadinstitute.org for urgent matters only, responding to most requests when the Broad reopens. The broad@broadinstitute.org queue will be monitored and messages from leadership, if appropriate, will be approved.

The Broad Discovery Center is closed to the public throughout the holiday closure. Staffed hours will resume on Monday, January 8 at 10:00 am. Museum staff can be reached before or after the closure at discoverycenter@broadinstitute.org.

Comparative Medicine and Broad Vivarium

Vivarium staff will work normal business hours during the holiday break, providing routine animal care and technical services. Holiday/weekend hours will be abbreviated; please plan requests for technical services accordingly.

Animal Orders: All animal orders and deliveries will be temporarily halted during the holiday break. To ensure that your research needs are met, please submit any upcoming animal orders by Wednesday, December 13. This will give us time to approve and receive your orders, as no orders will be processed during the holiday period.

Technical Service Requests: If you anticipate any technical service needs during the holiday break, we ask that you submit your service requests by Friday, December 9. This will allow us to appropriately schedule any requested services during the break.

Animal Care Responsibilities: For those with animal cages in the vivarium please note the following:

You will still need to be available via telephone and email in the case of an emergency. If you plan to travel or will otherwise not be available, it is imperative that you find suitable coverage for your animal cages, and update contact information cage cards as needed.
You are still responsible for experimental monitoring and dosing* during the break. If you will not be able to fulfill these responsibilities:
1. Please request that Comparative Medicine complete them for you as a technical service, or
2. Ensure that someone from your lab (specifically, an animal user trained and IACUC approved to carry out those specific responsibilities on your protocol) is available to cover for you.

*Note that this only applies to experimental monitoring and dosing - Comparative Medicine will continue to provide daily health checks, veterinary care, and husbandry per usual during the closure.

In the event of an emergency, please contact vivarium-management@broadinstitute.org.

Environmental Health and Safety

If you are planning any lab work during the closing, please request waste supplies or other needs by 12:00 pm on Thursday, December 21. (Friendly reminder: working alone in a lab is never a good idea!)

Triumvirate's routine pickups of biological and chemical waste will not occur on the following days:

Monday December 25, 2023
Monday January 1, 2024

Our onsite specialists will work on a modified schedule on working days during the shutdown:

All pickups will generally occur between 8:00 and 11:00 am

Staff will monitor ehs@broadinstitute.org, addressing most requests when Broad reopens. In the event of an EHS emergency, you may call the EHS hotline (available 24/7) at x7777.

Facilities

A full complement of security staff will be onsite at the Merkin Building (415 Main), the Stanley Building (75 Ames), and 320 Charles.

Security staff will monitor facilities@broadinstitute.org during the closing. In the event of an emergency, call the Security hotline at x7777.

Finance and Payroll

All staff, whether paid weekly or biweekly, will receive their pay on normal pay dates (December 22 and 29 for weekly paid staff, and December 29 for biweekly paid staff).

Weekly paid staff and their supervisors should note the following about reporting time:

Hours for the period of 12/18 to 12/22 must be entered in Workday and submitted to your manager for approval by end-of-day Thursday, 12/21.
- You may estimate your hours for this period and notify the Payroll Team after the break if adjustments are needed. Email Payroll@Broadinstitute.org and cc your manager.
The Holiday Closing code will default for the period of 12/22, 12/25 to 12/29, and 1/1. If you worked during this period, enter your hours worked as usual. Biweekly paid staff do not need to take any action. The Holiday Closing days will be reflected in your Time Off calendar in Workday.

Staff will monitor accounting@broadinstitute.org, accountspayable@broadinstitute.org, payroll@broadinstitute.org, and reimbursement@broadinstitute.org for emergencies, addressing other requests when Broad reopens.

Human Resources

Managers of December or January new hires should be aware of the following:

New hires who start in December, like all new hires, will have 30 calendar days to make their benefits elections. However, because of the closing, this group will lose seven business days. Therefore, new hires are encouraged to complete their benefits enrollment prior to Friday, December 23, if possible, so that HR staff can assist them in case of technical difficulties or other issues.
HR will not hold a new hire orientation on December 11 during the retreat, as well as no new hire orientations will be held during the closing . The first orientation of 2024 for new hires will be held Monday, January 8.

Any employees who plan to leave Broad in the month of December or during the first week of January are asked to notify your HR Partner as soon as possible.

HR staff will monitor appointments@broadinstitute.org, benefits@broadinstitute.org, broadlife@broadinstitute.org, hr@broadinstitute.org, immigration@broadinstitute.org, and recruiting@broadinstitute.org for emergencies, addressing most requests when Broad reopens.

IT Services (BITS)

All core IT services (network, email, calendar, centralized storage, and computational resources) will continue to operate during the holiday closing. If you experience an IT emergency, defined as a Broad-wide outage of a service or production environment, please call the BITS Emergency Line (617-714-8888), and a BITS staff member will be paged to triage the issue. (Please do not use this line to report local or specific issues affecting a limited number of users.)

All non-emergency IT issues should be reported to help@broadinstitute.org and will be addressed when Broad reopens.

Broad Library

The Broad Library will be closed from 12/23/2022 - 1/2/2023. Any requests received during this time will be fulfilled when Broad reopens.

Procurement, SQM, Receiving, and US Mail

Broad staff are encouraged to complete all necessary order placement before the closing, as buyers will not be available to assist with ordering during the closing.

Staff will monitor purchasing@broadinstitute.org, receiving@broadinstitute.org, sqm@broadinstitute.org, and usmail@broadinstitute.org to fulfill emergency requests only. Non-time-sensitive business will be attended to when the Institute reopens.

During the closing, with the exceptions of 12/25/23 and 1/1/23, Receiving, including US Mail and FedEx, will be open for deliveries (with limited staff) during normal business hours at the Merkin Building (415 Main Street), the Stanley Building (75 Ames Street), and 320 Charles Street.