Why join our team?

Flexibility – place of work, hours, work-life balance, working conditions

The people – supportive culture, caring, approachable, community feel

Positive work environment

Feeling valued and trusted to do the job

Wide ranging employee benefits

Our vision and purpose

Why do our people love working at UCEM?

Angela Lee

 

“UCEM has been an absolute positive career move for me, not only in affording opportunities to enhance my academic career, but I have finally landed at an institution that aligns with my personal stance on equality, diversity and inclusion as well as in sustainability.”

Sue Squires

 

“I love working at UCEM because my job is intellectually challenging, and I feel that my opinion and what I do is valued.”

Dean Bennett

 

“I love working at UCEM because it is great to work somewhere that puts such a heavy focus on both EDI and Sustainability, these are two topics that are hugely important for me. It is great to know that we are playing a part in a more sustainable built environment, and that everybody we work with has the opportunity to contribute to this.”

Gayle Sharp

 

“I feel so lucky to be a part of UCEM. Everyone works together for a purpose that unites us – a more sustainable future – and we have fun whilst achieving our goals. We find solutions, not problems, and our shared values are embedded throughout the organisation, from the recruitment process to our working practices, teaching, and leadership strategy.”

OUR VALUES

PASSION, INTEGRITY, EXCELLENCE AND SUPPORT

Passion

We care

 

  • We want each and every one of our students to succeed
  • We do the right thing by our students and customers – that means we do whatever we can to ensure that no student falls behind in their studies, and that no customer is unhappy with the service they receive

Integrity

Fairness first

 

  • We model integrity in everything we do
  • We never compromise on honesty or trustworthiness
  • We adhere closely to laws and compliance standards
  • We do what we say we will do, and fulfil our promises to staff

Excellence

We aim high

 

  • High standards drive everything we do
  • We deliver excellence, strive for continuous improvement and respond dynamically to change
  • Each one of us is personally responsible and accountable for the quality of whatever we do
  • We listen to our students and understand their expectations
  • We strive to exceed expectations in quality and delivery

Support

We show respect

 

  • At UCEM each member of staff does everything they can to help other staff and students to achieve their goals
  • We respect others and their opinions, we are open to ideas, we trust each other
  • We promote a supportive working environment across UCEM that extends to our students
  • We value and reward each individual’s skills, working towards common goals with shared objectives and through collaborative practice

OUR CULTURE

Built for community

UCEM has a long history and a bright future. We have a clear vision, we are driven by our core purpose, and we have set out an institutional strategy to 2025. At UCEM we are transparent with our staff; every individual joining UCEM will know what their role is and how it contributes to achieving the overall institutional objectives. You and your work will be valued and we want your contribution.

Given we operate in a highly regulated sector, we take compliance with higher education rules and codes of practice seriously. This means systems and processes are an important part of our everyday work because we want every student to succeed. These formal ways of working and clear organisational structure are balanced with the informal and friendly environment in which our employees operate. We have a UK head office in Reading and a small staff team based in Hong Kong. Overall our staff group is circa five hundred individuals and we operate flexible ways of working (office, hybrid, and remote).

UCEM is filled with people who are passionate about their work and who are incredibly supportive to their colleagues. Staff act with integrity and continue to strive for excellence in their everyday work. These all represent our values and we regularly take time to recognise and reward staff for demonstrating these. We know that the people are what makes UCEM a great place to work; we know this because staff keep telling us so. When you join us, we know you will discover this in almost no time!

Finally, we make sure that we take time out to talk to each other and get to know what makes each of us different and interesting. Whether it’s through informal chats with colleagues both in person and online, during Feed Me Fridays, at a social event or other fun activities, we enjoy each other’s company and most importantly, we look after and out for each other.

Look at our current vacancies if this makes you want to join the UCEM team!

“By joining UCEM you will be surrounded by a great group of people. Your contribution will be valued and every day you’ll see the results of your efforts through student success.”

Lisa Wilks

Director of HR

Employee engagement

Voice of our people

At UCEM we survey our people twice a year to find out about their employment and engagement experience. Here is what they have to say about working at UCEM:

88%

either strongly agree or agree with the statement:

I feel valued at work for my contribution

99%

either strongly agree or agree with the statement:

I understand the importance and meaning of my job role at UCEM

96%

either strongly agree or agree with the statement:

I feel included and accepted at work for who I am

96%

either strongly agree or agree with the statement:

My line manager gives me the level of support and encouragement I need at work

eNPS

Twice each year we ask our people the following question: On a rating scale of 0-10 where 0 is not at all likely, and 10 extremely likely, how likely are you to recommend UCEM as a place to work?

  • Our current eNPS score is 38.6
  • A good eNPS score is between 10 and 30; above 30 is excellent
  • 46.9% of our people are Promoters of UCEM. These are the most satisfied and engaged employees who are advocating for working at UCEM

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

BUILT FOR YOU

At UCEM we are delighted to be able to offer you a comprehensive employee benefits package that has something for everybody! We are committed to ensuring our employee benefits are relevant and offer value for money, and we made some exciting enhancements to our benefits offering during 2022 but we are not stopping there. We continue to invest in our employee benefits to enhance our package even further with employee feedback heavily shaping our future plans. This page will be updated as and when we have further information to share.

Core benefits
  • Paid holiday, (26 days full-time equivalent per annum, plus bank holidays and designated closure days (up to 5 per annum), holiday buy/sell/carry over options
  • Paid wellbeing day (normally one per annum)
  • Occupational sickness pay from day one of employment
  • Salary exchange pension scheme (auto-enrolment): 7% employer contribution, 2.5% minimum employee contribution
  • Life assurance/death in service
  • Flexibility in relation to place of work (office based, hybrid working, remote working)
Lifestyle and work-life balance
  • Contractual flexible working built around a core hours’ model
  • Holiday increases with service (28 days after 5 years)
  • Holiday buy option is up to 5 days’ full-time equivalent per holiday year
  • Holiday sell or carry over option is up to 2 days’ per holiday year (choose one or neither)
  • Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment (in addition to statutory pay, where applicable)
Health and wellbeing
  • Employer-paid health cash plan for employees with options available to enhance cover (any enhancements are employee-paid)
  • Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), available 24/7 365 days per year
  • Access to the SilverCloud mental health platform
  • Discounted gym memberships
  • Dedicated wellbeing area on the intranet
  • Optical care support (employer-paid via health cash plan in first instance)
  • Dental insurance for employees, voluntary basis (employee-paid)
  • First aid training for first aiders (including mental health)
  • Fire warden training for fire wardens
  • Social committee events, some subsidised by UCEM
  • Charity and voluntary paid day, per annum
  • Promotion of sustainable living
  • Employer paid Private Medical Insurance (specific job roles only)
Tax efficient/salary sacrifice

Tax efficient and/or salary sacrifice benefits

  • Cycle-to-work scheme
  • Give-as-you-earn/payroll giving
  • Salary exchange (sacrifice) pension contributions
  • Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme)

Payroll Giving Award

UCEM is proud to have achieved the silver category Payroll Giving Quality Mark, as recognition for our generous contributions to UK charities. The Silver Award is a symbol of excellence which demonstrates our philanthropic culture and committed giving in the workplace. Tax efficient charitable giving is just one of the many employee benefits offered here at UCEM.

Silver Award 2021 - Payroll Giving

Workplace savings
  • Retail discounts: thousands of offers from top brands available via Lifestyle Savings portal and app
  • Season-ticket travel loan
  • Discounted Dell products
  • Office 365 for use on personal/home devices
Training and development
  • 24/7 365-day access to online learning through LinkedIn Learning
  • Access to hundreds of short courses on a wide range of topics through Lifestyle Learning (part of the retail discounts benefit)
  • Access to a well-equipped e-library
Other employee benefits

Other benefits and employee recognition

  • Paid professional body subscription (terms apply)
  • Employee recognition: peer to peer recognition including Values awards and Star awards via an online portal
  • Long service awards (key milestones include a financial award)
  • Employee Referral Bonus Scheme
Office working

Benefits specific to office working

  • Modern office environment with strong sustainability credentials, facilities include break-out and collaborative working spaces, kitchen and rest facilities including outside deck, shower and changing facilities including lockers, and a locked bike shelter
  • Free car parking on site (spaces subject to availability and terms)
  • Free tea, coffee and milk
  • Free fresh fruit and other breakfast items available (selected days only)
  • Dress-down Fridays
  • Feed Me Fridays!

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

Here at UCEM we champion Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in our workforce. We began our EDI journey in Autumn 2021 by forming an EDI Staff Working Group, which meets regularly to plan and implement changes and developments that will bring us closer to our goal of having a more diverse and inclusive workforce. We do not have a “tick-box mentality” but instead are committed to embedding real and lasting change within our institution. As an online education provider for the Built Environment we want our staff to be representative of the diverse and global student body that we serve.