In this section...
Introduction
We are committed to supporting and developing our employees from day one. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer 30 days annual leave, flexible working arrangements and membership of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Benefits
Hybrid working
We offer hybrid working to all our employees, allowing them to balance their working week between home and the office.
Annual leave
Our full-time employees receive 30 days’ annual leave, eight bank holidays and up to three additional days for closure between Christmas and New Year.
Flexible working
We value the importance of a work/life balance and operate a flexible working scheme to employees. We also consider requests for formal flexible working, if the working pattern suits the business needs.
Civil Service Pension
Employees are entitled to become a member of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Family-friendly policies
We aim to support our employees with generous maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave and pay.
Health and wellbeing
Our aim is to promote and encourage wellbeing at work. To assist in all aspects of wellbeing, our employees have access to:
- employee assistance programme - offering services such as emotional support, counselling and access to specialist advisors
- eyecare provision - which allows employees a free eye test along with a limited selection of frames
- occupational health - providing advice on pre-placement/fitness for work, return to work support, or advice when employees have other health concerns.
Our employee group, QWEST, supports wellbeing and equalities initiatives which run across the organisation.
CSSC Sports and Leisure
Our employees are eligible to join the CSSC - a membership organisation for civil servants and public sector workers - providing a huge range of sports, leisure, health and retail opportunities to its members.
Professional subscriptions
Our commitment to our employees’ professional status is demonstrated by paying their professional subscriptions if relevant to their role.
Equality and diversity
We employ and reward the very best talent, regardless of gender, race, ethnic or national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation or age. And that's how we seek out future potential too, recruiting from the widest available pool.
Our approach to recruitment and selection is fair, open and based purely on merit, and we comply with the general duties under the Equalities Act 2010.
Examples of our approach include:
- the design of our office
- our recruitment practices
- our website design standards
- the organisation of our events
- engagement with representative groups to support the development of an inclusive working environment
We are a disability confident employer and have been awarded with a gold FairPlay Employer standard by Chwarae Teg.
Learning and development
We are committed to developing our employees from day one. Our aim is to support them with any relevant training and development opportunities that will aid their career. This can include funding external courses or qualifications. This can vary from soft skills training courses run in house to technical training and sponsorships for professional qualifications.
We provide both organisation-wide and individual training. Some examples of the training we have provided are:
- advanced regulatory assessment training
- stakeholder engagement
- equality based training
- finance
- procurement
We have partnered with other Welsh Government sponsored bodies to procure, develop and deliver leadership and management programmes to our staff. These programmes are designed to meet the needs of our employees and build links across the sector.
Where we work
Our offices in Newport are bright and inspiring, enabling employees to connect and work together in an open-plan and relaxed space. It is an environment that encourages the best out of our teams, and also allows us to collaborate flexibly with our stakeholders.
How we work
As an organisation, we continue to develop our corporate social responsibility. This involves the whole organisation taking part in local volunteering or corporate activities.
These have included:
- community litter collections (in conjunction with Celtic Horizons Community Group)
- coffee mornings and cake sales to raise money for Macmillan, Bloodwise and Children in Need
- food bank donations to Raven House Trust
- a Christmas toy collection for Newport families
- working with Re-engage to provide an afternoon tea and entertainment for isolated people from across South Wales
- engaging with Help the Homeless in Newport, helping at their centre, donating shoeboxes of essential items and donating coats for the Winter Wrap Up Newport campaign
- other activities to raise money and awareness for local and national charities
- reading articles and news stories for Sight Cymru
Leisure and social activities
We organise a number of other activities throughout the year. These range from cross-organisation fitness efforts to employees taking on the challenges of the Three Peaks and Cardiff Half Marathon.