Annual leave and important dates Expand When you start working with us at WDP, your annual leave allowance will be 30 days from the very beginning. This sector-leading annual leave entitlement increases over time with a maximum of 33 days once you have been working with us for five years. On top of this generous allowance, we also want to support with additional leave when there are important events taking place in your personal life. Not all of these benefits will work for you, but we’re comfortable with that because we are a diverse bunch and know that different things work for different people. Birthdays Our staff can choose to take their birthday off as paid leave if they would like. If your birthday falls on a non-working day? No problem, you can still take an additional day’s leave at another time to mark the occasion the week before or after your birth date, why not make it a long weekend! Getting married When a colleague gets married or forms a civil partnership, it is a really important time in their lives. We offer an additional day of paid leave to put towards your celebrations. Moving home Moving to a new home can be a stressful time. At WDP, you can take an extra day off work to support your move – whether it be the actual move day, the day before to give you more time to get ready, or the day after when you need some time to rest! Your child’s first day of school For parents, the very first day that your child starts school is a big deal for both you and them! We want you to have the flexibility to be there when that happens. Therefore, our staff can take an additional day of leave for each of their children’s first days at their very first school.
Parental and support leave Expand Parental leave Having a baby or adopting a child can be an exciting and overwhelming experience. We want to provide as much support as we can for our staff who are embarking on parenthood and offer flexible leave that works for you. With that in mind, both our maternity and adoption leave consists of 8 weeks full pay, 8 weeks half pay (then statutory) – with the option for more than one parent or supporting partner to share this maternity/adoption leave period. In addition, we also offer 3 weeks full pay and 1 week half pay of paternity or supporting partner leave. Support leave We know that there may be challenging life events – both planned and unforeseen – where having some additional leave from work could make all the difference. Therefore, we support our staff by offering leave for the following: IVF (both partners eligible) – discretionary (we’ll discuss together what would work best for you) Gender transition – discretionary (we’ll discuss together what would work best for you) Dependents – up to 5 days (with discretionary extension) Compassionate – up to 5 days (with discretionary extension) Miscarriage (both partners eligible) – up to 2 weeks Domestic abuse – up to 2 weeks
Sick leave Expand We have put support in place to help us embed a workplace culture where a member of our staff doesn’t feel anxious about asking for help or taking sick leave if they need it. If you are struggling with a significant physical or mental health event, we don’t want you to have to worry about your finances. Therefore, our sick leave entitlement is 6 months full pay, then 6 months half pay from your first day of service with us.
Other leave Expand There are other times where you may feel that additional leave would support what is important to you. We are always happy to hear when our staff would like to give their time to volunteer outside of work, so we offer 2 days of volunteering leave each year to help them do just that! This also includes time to go and donate blood as well. Pets can be part of the family and we recognise that losing a beloved pet can be very difficult. Therefore, we offer 1 day’s pet bereavement leave to support staff during this challenging time. Obviously we understand there is a difference between a dog or cat and a goldfish, but we trust our colleagues and managers to make the right decisions.
Pension Expand We offer an auto-enrolment pension scheme provided by The People’s Pension to all employees across WDP. If you earn over £10,000 per year (subject to statutory change from time to time), are aged over 22, and under state pension age, we will automatically enrol you into our pension scheme when you start employment with the following contribution rates: 3% employer 5% employee You can choose to increase your personal contribution rate at any time.
WDP Boost Expand We are always looking for new and different ways to show our teams how much we appreciate them. WDP Boost is just one way we do this – giving our people a little boost each month! Each month, one lucky member of staff is selected at random and receives £600 into their nominated bank account via payroll, as a thank you for their hard work. WDP Boost is only available for employees on Band 7 and under, and the £600 is subject to tax and National Insurance.
Professional Registration Fees Expand We value all our members of staff and that includes those people where a registered profession is required for their role. If this is something you need for your role, we will cover the cost of your registration fee.
Health and wellbeing Expand Flexible working Your work-life balance is important to you, so it is important to us. We have an online and home working hybrid model that staff can benefit from, with a range of options that can be personalised to you and your role. Perkbox We are keen to share health and wellbeing benefits, but also some financial perks too. One way we do this is through our Perkbox rewards and benefits platform. Perkbox offers access to a wide variety of discounts for all WDP staff – from fitness and wellbeing providers such as Puregym or Boxx and retailers like Argos or Snow & Rock – as well as freebies from Café Nero or Greggs, and free courses from the Skills Network. Health Assured (Employee Assistance Programme) We want to ensure that you have as much support as possible if you have any worries outside of work. Therefore, we have made Health Assured available to all WDP staff. It provides a confidential and independent 24/7 helpline with qualified counsellors and advisors who can offer help with legal, financial, health and family issues. Other support you can access via Health Assured includes: Up to 4 free sessions of structured, solution-focused telephone or online counselling An online health portal which contains a comprehensive library of wellbeing information, including factsheets, 4-week programmes, mini health checks and financial assessment tools. Monthly wellbeing newsletters and webinars filled with practical information and guidance. Eyecare All our staff spend some time in front of a computer during the working day, some people more than others. Free eyesight tests and discount vouchers for any glasses needed (for work purposes) are provided. Flu jabs We offer free flu jabs to our staff to keep them as safe as possible during the winter months. Where we are not able to supply flu jabs via our partners, our staff can book their own appointments in their local area and claim the cost back. Wellbeing initiatives The health and wellbeing of our people is something that we care a great deal about and is also vital to the success of our services being able to support those in need. We have a group of Connection Champions, made up of staff from across WDP, who feedback and provide ideas that will have a positive impact on our teams. This range continues to evolve and grow and currently includes mindfulness sessions, Lunch and Learn webinars and informal drop-in sessions.
Financial perks and support Expand Savings scheme We know that saving money each month can be tricky. This is why we have an option for our staff to choose an amount to be deducted directly from their monthly salary to be safely put aside in a savings scheme. This means that you can easily save throughout the year with options to withdraw the money at two points during the year. Season ticket loan For our staff that use public transport to get to work, buying a season ticket can be the most cost-effective way to pay for travel, but it can also be a large outgoing all at once. So, we offer an interest-free season ticket loan option. This is a one-off payment for your season ticket which you can repay over a 12-month period through deductions from your monthly salary. Life assurance payment Life assurance or ‘death in service’ benefit offers peace of mind should the worst happen. Through our life assurance scheme, your nominated beneficiaries would be eligible to receive a lump sum payment equivalent to 2 x your salary. This is available to all staff from the point that they start working at WDP. Special loans When something goes wrong or an unforeseen cost makes itself known, having some short-term financial help can really relieve some pressure. Our staff have the option to take advantage of an interest-free loan of up to the same amount as their monthly salary, which can be paid back over an 18-month period. This loan could be used to help with payment of a replacement household item or to fund a training course which has an up-front cost – we want it to be flexible to meet your needs. Cycle to Work scheme If cycling to work appeals to you then we are more than happy to support those who want to get fit, go green and save cash all at the same time! Our Cycle to Work scheme enables you to acquire a bicycle and associated equipment worth up to £1,000 through a salary sacrifice. Employee referral scheme Do you know someone who would be perfect for a role we are advertising? If you are a WDP employee and you recommend someone you know to apply for a role, you could also benefit. If the person you know applies (and they tell us you referred them in their application) and they are successful and pass their probationary period, you will receive a payment of £250 as a thank you!
Recognition and development Expand We have a comprehensive suite of in-person, online and e-learning programmes to help our staff learn and grow. We also have the following benefits that our people can take advantage of: ‘Buddy’ sessions with a member of our Senior Management Team Having our people feel connected to their teams and the organisation as a whole is really important to us. Therefore, members of our senior management team make themselves available for any WDP employee that would like to have a ‘buddy’ session with them. Coaching and mentoring sessions are also available from senior staff to support your development. Our People Awards Recognising the hard work and talent of our staff teams is something we celebrate each year. The judging panel for Our People Awards comprises of service user representatives, volunteers, and staff Connection Champions. They help us to shine a spotlight on the people at WDP making the biggest positive impact on their colleagues and the people that they support. Career break We know that there are times when people want to take a longer break from work, for a whole variety of reasons. Career break opportunities can therefore be considered after 3 years of service. Additional responsibility payments There are some organisational responsibilities that we want and need our staff to get involved with and contribute to. To encourage people to undertake these essential activities, we offer increases in their pay to reflect the additional development responsibilities. Some of the roles which include additional responsibility payments include Mental Health First Aider, First Aider, Health & Safety Lead, Fire Warden, Connection Champion, Associate Staff Trainer, and Volunteer or Student Supervisor.