NCFE benefits - what can they offer you?
NCFE firmly believe that they reward and treat their colleagues well and that it’s a great place to work. As a result, everyone provides a great level of service to their customers and colleagues. This enables them to grow and earn the money that they can then re-invest in the company and the people for the benefit of their customers.
These are the benefits whilst working at NCFE:
Office environment
In December 2013 NCFE relocated from their Newcastle City Centre Office to a brand new spacious office located in Q6 at Quorum Business Park in Longbenton.
The office has some great new facilities for their increasing number of colleagues working for them such as car parking, their own café, a large self-service kitchen area, a games room, a dining area, a wellbeing room, picnic benches, a wide range of meeting rooms, hot desks within quiet areas, tea points, and even soundproof seating areas.
They’re really excited about their new home and giving their people an even better working environment, which will ensure that working for NCFE is now an even greater experience.
Competitive rates of pay
NCFE pay a good basic salary – they regularly check their salary scales against comparable roles in the North East. From time-to-time they benchmark the salary scales applied to every job, most recently using the Croner R£ward system.
Performance-related salary increments
You can earn more money if you perform at an exceptional level and exceed expectations in the delivery of your objectives, job performance measures and competencies. Pay awards are either a one-off ‘bonus’ or as an increment built into your basic salary.
Relocation expenses
NCFE want the best people to join them so if you need to relocate to work at NCFE then they may be able to support you with your relocation expenses if you currently live more than 50 miles from their head office.
Holidays
NCFE offer a generous holiday entitlement:
· For most post, the basic entitlement is 25 days’ annual leave, rising to 27 days after 2 years’ service
· For Manager posts and above Business Development Officers, NCFE offer 27 days’ annual leave,
rising to 30 days after 2 years’ service.
This doesn’t include Bank Holidays (you get those as well!) and, in addition, they usually close the office between Christmas and New Year, which doesn’t come out of your holiday entitlement.
Flexible working
NCFE know that keeping a sensible work-life balance is getting harder all the time so they try to allow staff to work flexibly if they need to. They obviously need to put the needs of their customers first but if anyone needs to start early or finish early, they will try to accommodate this.
For posts below Manager level they also offer a flexi-time scheme, as well as being able to be considered for the various other flexible ways of working for all staff.
Pension
NCFE operate a flexible pension scheme which all staff can join and pay money into once they have completed 12 weeks’ service. NCFE will pay the equivalent of 9% of salary into your pension fund as long as you contribute a minimum of 3% yourself. If this doesn’t fit your needs you can choose to make a 1% contribution which they will pay 3%, or alternatively you can make a 2% contribution and they will pay 6%.
Maternity pay
NCFE look after you if you’re expecting! If you meet the eligibility criteria, they offer enhanced maternity pay of 8 weeks’ full pay (including SMP) and the remaining 18 weeks at half of normal salary (including SMP), followed by any additional statutory entitlements. You can also get paid time off for ante-natal, health visitor and midwife appointments. They’re a member of the Tommy’s Baby Charity Pregnancy Accreditation Programme and they’ll even give you one of their now-legendary NCFE baby grows!
Paternity pay
New dads who meet the eligibility criteria are entitled to 2 weeks’ paternity leave, paid at full salary (inclusive of Statutory Paternity Pay) and may also be eligible to request Additional Paternity Leave where you may be able to take up to 26 weeks leave.
Adoptive leave
If you happen to have an adopted child or adopt while you’re with NCFE, they’ll treat you exactly the same as if you were the biological parent. NCFE offer comparable adoptive leave and pay as well as paid time off for any appointments related to your adoption.
In addition, these are the benefits currently available to you which NCFE regularly review and update:
Healthcare plan
NCFE operate a healthcare plan which enables you to claim towards the cost of your everyday health costs such as dental and optical care and therapy treatments; you also get access to a 24 hour counselling line and GP advice line for those moments when you need some extra help and support.
Discounted annual travel pass
NCFE do have parking spaces available at their Longbenton site but also encourage use of public transport, so to help you with your travel to and from work they offer an interest-free loan to buy a discounted annual travel pass. This could save you more than £100 on your annual travel costs!
Tax free bikes
NCFE are signed up to the Government’s Green Transport Cycle to Work initiative which enables you to make big savings on the purchase of a new bike and pay for it in instalments, via tax free salary sacrifice once you have completed your probationary period. They have secure bike parking and shower facilities in their office so you can commute by bike to work. For more information on this scheme, please visit www.cyclescheme.co.uk.
Computer loans
NCFE are signed up with the Computing Scheme which allows you to pay for computer equipment from your salary and making savings in the process. This is available to you on completion of your probation.
Learning and development
As you might expect from an organisation dealing with education, NCFE place great emphasis on developing their staff. This starts on day one with the start of an in-depth induction programme and continues throughout your career with NCFE. You’ll take responsibility for your own learning and development and will actively seek opportunities to improve, you’ll do this with support from your line manager and their Learning and Development Team who’ll help you to identify, plan and address your needs.
· ‘Welcome to our World’ induction – NCFE give all staff a thorough induction into the organisation, this includes developing you to carry out the duties and responsibilities of your role, helping you learn about the different teams in the organisation so you know who your colleagues are, what they do and how you can work together as one team. There’s a cultural induction which includes an introduction to service excellence and values of the company which will help you to understand the behaviours which will help you to have a successful career with NCFE.
· Ongoing learning and development – NCFE invest in your skills and development throughout your career with NCFE to enable you to deliver the best service to our customers and to develop your expertise in your specialist area. They use a variety of learning methods and tailor their learning to meet business priorities and individual needs.
· ‘Love Learning’ library – NCFE have an extensive learning resource in their Library with over 180 different items for you to use. There’s something to suit everyone’s style from books to DVD’s, CD-Rom’s to podcasts. The library covers a wide range of topics from personal development to management, fun topics, language CD’s and some brilliant self-help books.
· Support for other development – if you need development for your job, NCFE will fund it in full. If you want to do something a little more to do with your personal development, this could be a short course or qualification; NCFE will still make a contribution towards it if they can. The support includes a contribution towards payment of fees, paid time off to attend events, paid time off for exams, contribution towards purchase of core course books.
· Personal development allowance – NCFE give an allowance of £200 a year to each member of staff once they have completed their probation. They can use this allowance on absolutely any type of training activity of their choice, which needn’t be anything to do with work. This year, staff have spent their allowance on skiing lessons, driving lessons, card making course, website design course, pottery, dancing lessons, Spanish lessons, European Computer Driving Licence qualification, woodworking and many more.
· Free NCFE qualifications – on completion of your probation, you can do NCFE qualifications where they will contribute up to £400 towards the cost of the course – with their qualifications ranging from Creative Craft and Art and Design to Personal Money Management and Food Safety Management there’s something for everyone.
· Adult learner’s week – once a year NCFE encourage you to showcase your talents and share them with colleagues so they can learn from you. They’re a talented bunch with recent sessions ranging from learning to play the guitar, vintage hairstyles, improving your memory and improving your hand writing.
The fun stuff…
NCFE are not afraid to have fun at work – it makes for a happier working environment and they think it makes you work better as well!
Celebration lunches – NCFE like to celebrate things - recently they’ve celebrated good months for income, their highest-ever customer and staff satisfaction results and winning an important contract.
Free drinks – it’s important to keep you hydrated so you can perform at your best so NCFE offer a variety of drinks at our tea points including fair-trade tea and coffee, a variety of herbal teas and fruit squashes – all free of charge.
News bite – the yummiest day of the month – on the last working day of the month everyone is treated to some form of cake, scone, pastry or healthy snack. At the same time, the Strategic Management Team send round an e-mail summary of our achievements in the month – usually in a fairly tongue-in-cheek style.
All staff events – every few months NCFE close the office for the afternoon to hold an all staff event. There a chance to get everyone together as a business and share important information as well as having a social aspect and a bit of fun at the same time.
Quiz nights – NCFE love a good quiz and regularly get a chance to test their general knowledge against colleagues.
Christmas party – NCFE have a Christmas Party every year, which gives everyone an opportunity to dance the night away. In previous years they’ve had a masked ball, surf simulators, a ‘casino’ with roulette and black jack tables and rodeo with a ‘bucking bronco’.
Visit www.gempartnership.com/ncfe or www.ncfe.org.uk Email Call 0191 244 6444