KARIBU KENYA - UNON - the United Nations Office at Nairobi

CHAPTER 8: WORKING IN NAIROBI
Working at Gigiri
The Working Environment
The United Nations Gigiri Complex is a thoroughly multi-cultural
environment, with dozens of nationalities, races and religions all living and
working in easy harmony.Although different agencies have different working
terms and conditions, there are some basic conditions that exist throughout
the complex. All the main agencies require their employees to work for four
days a week between the hours of 8am and 4.30pm, with a 45-minute lunch
break to be taken between 12pm and 2pm, while on Fridays, working hours
are 8am-2.30pm with a 30-minute lunch break. Whilst there is no official
dress code at the UN Gigiri Complex, staff are expected to dress in a decent
and sensitive manner as befits their standing as international civil servants.
Contracts and terms of service are arranged individually with each
employee through their agency’s Human Resources Section. For employees
of UNEP, UN-HABITAT and UNON, issues of protocol – visas, PIN cards,
vehicle registration, etc. – are handled by UNON’s Host Country Relations
Unit (Room W-215), while UNICEF and UNDP staff have such issues dealt
with by their Protocol Offices (Rooms F-213 and Q-220 respectively).
Details on these issues are contained in this chapter.
Annual Leave & Public Holidays
Both local and international staff with fixed term contract in all the UN
agencies (including those on temporary fixed term contracts) are entitled
to two-and-a-half days of annual leave in each calendar month, or 30 days
per annum. Different UN agencies have different policies relating to other
leave entitlements. For example UNICEF offers new fathers eight weeks
paternity leave on a flexible basis whilst UN employees are permitted seven
days of uncertified sick leave per year as their paternity leave entitlement.
There are policies governing durations of full-pay and half-pay certified
sick leave which depend upon the nature of contract and duration of
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