We are excited about employing people both with many years’ industry experience and qualifications and those with varied working backgrounds without formal qualifications; most important to us is that our people demonstrate the following qualities:
- You care about what you do and how you do it
- You have excellent people and communication skills
- You have passion to achieve high standards
Values
We live by our values and they are:
Together we are people-focused
People are at the heart of our business. By recognising people’s diverse needs and strengths and treating everyone fairly we can both serve our customers better and support our teams to run a brilliant business and improve services.
We are constantly working to make sure Orwell is an employer of choice: embedding a
professional
attitude, a high level of ambition and a real focus on delivery into our teams. We value
what
each
and every person brings to their role and the organisation. We value difference and we care
about
what we deliver, how we deliver and about each other.
Our People Promise outlines how we believe people should be treated.
We keep checking how everyone is feeling by measuring:
- how happy we are at work
- how proud we are to work here
- how far we would recommend Orwell to our family and friends.
Right now, we’re hitting over 90% on these and we are really proud of that. In 2016, 2017
and
2019 we were listed in the Top 100 of the Best Companies to Work for.
We get excited when we come across people who can bring to us great skills, a positive
attitude
and a passion for what they do. If you’re great at what you do and how you do it that’s good
enough for us.
As the saying goes, “great people know great people” so we have an employee referral scheme
which pays up to £300 for each successful introduction.
We really care about each other here at Orwell, and this is regularly fed back to us:
How we all work together with our people is really important. We currently hold Investors in People Silver and are on the path to Gold. This means that we are considered to be an excellent employer in terms of putting people first and caring about their work-life balance; building a stronger, healthier, happier society.
We really care about everyone’s personal and professional development and
very proud of the
learning opportunities we offer, as well as the Orwell Academy, that gives people the chance
to develop their professional qualifications alongside work.
It’s important to us that we pay fairly, however, the value that we place on people is not
limited to pay but the employment experience explained here. As a not-for-profit
organisation our income is generated by our tenants and customers paying rent and service
charges and by councils awarding contracts to provide support and care services at the best
possible price. To safeguard this income, but to ensure we are as fair as possible, we pay
the going rate for each role in our business.
Here are some of the benefits of working with us:
- Reward and recognition awards and rewards
- Generous employee referral scheme (up to £300)"
- Interest Free Season Ticket loan (travel)
- Car loans
- Free DBS checks
- Free Hepatitis vaccination (role specific)
- Free Flu vaccination (role specific)
- Buy/sell up to 5 days holiday
- 22 - 26 days annual leave, plus 8 bank holidays
- Wellbeing Commitment (tokens which can be used for yoga, gym classes, etc)
- Paid sick leave after 6 months service (up to 6 months’ full pay)
- Supermarket discounts, many other retail discounts, flash sales and promotions (saving up to 70%)
- Discounted gym membership
- Discounted cinema tickets and Sky Store
- Discounted white goods (Hughes Electrical)
- Discounted ABTA, ATOL holidays
- Rewards and gifts to celebrate length of service
- Employee Assistance Support (Care first)
- Flexible and Agile Working
- Free parking and volunteer days
- Health cash plan
- Blue Light Card (membership fees applies)
Together we are ambitious
We are ambitious: ambitious about the growth of our organisation so that we can achieve more, and ambitious to realise the full potential of all our people, and all those we support and house.
The Orwell Academy aims to identify future leaders and those who are innovative and passionate showing our belief in them through supporting their development personally and professionally. We really believe in apprenticeship opportunities and all our apprentices are supported by the Orwell Academy framework.
- eLearning for all
- ILM Level three and five for new and existing supervisors and managers
- supported internal career opportunities
- regular support and supervisions/catch-ups/1-2-1s
Together we are collaborative
We enjoy working in partnership with other organisations, our tenants, customers, colleagues
and like-minded organisations to find solutions together, and use the skills and experience
of everyone to aim to be the very best we can be.
In delivering our Academy we have partnered with local training providers who bring their
expertise and combine this with our particular needs to deliver the best we can.
Working together as one big team, “Team Orwell” to achieve our ambitions is really important
to us. We can achieve so much more if we all work together.
We recognise the importance of creating a work environment in which our people thrive and do
meaningful work that they love. To ensure we have a positive working environment we offer
agile and flexible working where possible and we use many methods to all keep in touch. We
encourage the use of Facebook Workplace to communicate, recognise fantastic achievements and
celebrate the work we do every day.
As a not for profit organisation, we regularly pull together to hold fund-raising
competitions and events, which not only help us raise money for our chosen charities but
brings us all together to achieve a common aim.
Monthly we are all invited to take part in fun events such as BBQs, Pancake Day and baking
competitions, to name a few.
We have friendly working environments, many workplaces with lovely gardens, and kitchens stocked with tea, coffee and squash to keep refreshed!
Together we are effective
We need to be effective and efficient and as a not-for-profit organisation it’s true that we need to make sure we are investing our budget in the right places. We need to offer, and achieve value for money and alongside this, ensure our teams are engaged, happy, committed and fantastic at what they do so they can provide the highest possible standards of service. We recognise and celebrate teamwork which is the best part of working with Orwell (according to our latest Best Companies Top 100 companies survey).
We can’t wait to welcome you as part of our team at Orwell!
