Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Facilities & Workplace Services Lead
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York, Yorkshire and the Humber, YO1 7PX
Job Summary
Are you an experienced Facilities or Workplace Manager looking for a new and exciting challenge? This could be the role for you. Managing a diverse property portfolio in and around the York, working in Defra Group Property (DgP)
Job Description
You’ll take in a dynamic role where no two days are alike. As the Intelligent Client, you’ll work closely with our FM provider to ensure our stakeholders & ALBs have work environments tailored to their operational needs. You’ll also collaborate with wider DgP teams to continually enhance, improve and maintain our workspaces.
The role requires skills and knowledge in FM operations, project management, finance, procurement, and people management. Industry knowledge of regulations and best practices is also important.
Key Responsibilities:
- Work with local stakeholders to understand their current and future workplace requirements
- Be the key interface with FM service providers to ensure and facilitate a seamless facilities management service provision
- Provide assurance to stakeholders that the workplaces occupied by their staff and visitors are legally compliant and safe
- Manage local issues or disputes between stakeholders and the FM service provider
- Manage health and safety, premises maintenance, Business Continuity arrangements, identifying any remedial actions and acting upon them
- Provide line management and leadership to a HEO
Person Specification
We are looking for an experienced facilities professional with a track record in large, complex organisations. You will hold excellent customer services skills coupled with technical knowledge of legal compliance and safety regulations. With a collaborative, solutions-focused approach, you'll actively tune into business needs and overcome challenges with sound judgement.
Licences
- Driving Licence
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
- Making Effective Decisions
- Managing a Quality Service
Technical Skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Government Property Profession – Practitioner Level – Customer & Client Services
Salary
Alongside your salary of £44,052, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £12,761 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Flexi Time Policy
Our Flexi-time policy allows you to vary your hours from day to day, within the requirements of your role, to suit your needs and to offer a better work/life balance.
Leave
If you work full time at Defra you are entitled to 25 days’ leave (rising, over 5 years, to 30 days’). If you work part time it will be pro-rated.
Privilege day
You are also entitled to a privilege day off in May to mark the King’s birthday (date varies), plus time off for the 8 public holidays a year.
Career breaks
We recognise that your work-life balance can extend beyond the short-term to the longer-term, and to support this you are able to apply for career breaks. These are unpaid extended breaks from work, granted at the discretion of the department.
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Volunteering leave
- 3 days paid volunteering leave every year (pro-rata). Once you have passed probation.
Season ticket loan
- For an interest free season ticket loan, if you have worked within the Defra for more than three months. This can be used to purchase train and bus season tickets, as well as station car parking.
Tenancy deposit loan
- For an interest free loan, to assist you in meeting the deposit costs for your privately rented home.
Salary advances and loans for other circumstances
- For salary advances and loans in the following circumstances: for new entrants, for the purchase of bicycles, holidays and religious holidays.
Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme
- Since the closure to new entrants of the employer childcare voucher scheme, the government introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. In this scheme, working parents open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 a year for each child or £4,000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare.
Support to buy a bicycle
- We run two schemes that can help you buy a bicycle for your commute:
- The Cycle to Work Scheme –you can apply for a bicycle for your commute, up to the value of £6,000, which is recovered from you through salary sacrifice, as a tax-free benefit. At the end of the repayment period, you have the option to buy the bike if you wish, saving around 30% of the original cost.
- Bike loan – if you are not eligible to apply for the Cycle to Work Scheme, you can apply for a loan of up to £1,000 towards the cost of a bike using the Bike loan scheme. This however is not a salary sacrifice scheme.
High-street and online discounts
- Offers through SmartSpending™ which is accessed through the StaR platform. Accessible 24/7, you can save at hundreds of top retailers.
Maternity leave, paternity leave and shared parental leave
- We offer generous maternity leave, paternity leave and shared parental leave – a total of 52 weeks leave to look after your new baby, regardless of your length of service. Most mothers are entitled to 39 weeks of paid leave, and a further 13 weeks of unpaid leave. Most partners are entitled to 15 days of paid paternity leave. Shared parental leave arrangements are in place, allowing parents to divide their leave with each other.
Professional Membership
- Defra group will fund one professional membership for each permanent employee which is relevant to their role.
Eye care scheme
- If you use a computer screen in connection with your job, we will pay for a regular eyesight test, and you may also be entitled to help towards purchasing new glasses, if they are needed for computer use.
The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Is a free 24/7 confidential telephone advice service, available to all of our staff throughout the year.
Civil Service Sports Council
- The opportunity to join the Civil Services Sports Council.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
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Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
Application Process
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Sift
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted on the Personal Statement.
Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Sifting will take place 21st/22nd October.
Interview
If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on behaviours, technical skills and strengths.
Interviews are currently scheduled to take place w/c 2nd November but may be subject to change.
A presentation or other assessment may be used.
Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.
Near miss
Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.
Salary
New entrants are expected to start on the minimum pay band.
Face to face interviews
Please note that Defra does not pay travel expenses for applicants from Other Government Departments (OGD) or external candidates.
Further Information
Location & Travel
As part of the pre-employment process, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).
Where the location is 'National' the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.
The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.
Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.
The successful candidate
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Jessica, London
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