Benefits BookletSYHA

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Introducing

your benefitsAs you’d expect from an organisation dedicated to helping people, we also make sure that we look after our staff.

To attract the very best talent to South Yorkshire Housing Association we offer competitive salaries and a generous benefits package. As well as the standard benefits you’d expect from any big employer, like a good pension, we’ve made sure to offer some additional perks that can make life inside, and outside, of work that bit easier.

So whether it’s gaining a new qualification through the LeadWell Academy or claiming some money back on your free Westfield Health care plan – we’ve got it covered.

In fact we offer so many benefits that people don’t often know about all of them. We’ve brought all of our benefits together into one document so you can make best use of all the amazing support on offer to you.

I’ve personally benefited from a range of our benefits, including our Westfield Health care plan which covered the cost of seeing an osteopath for my back!

I’d encourage you to really take full advantage of this fantastic range of free benefits available to you, and I hope this booklet helps make it easy to claim them.

Make sure you look out for your annual Total Reward Statement which will tell you just how much you’ve saved by using our benefits scheme.

Tony StaceyChief Executive

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12–13 Home life- Childcare vouchers- Crucible- Crown Discount

14–15 Learning and development- Employee development- LeadWell- Induction- Study leave- Academy

16–17 Extra money in your pocket- Increments- On-call- Multi-trades bonus- Gas safety payments

18–19 Pensions- Information on offer- Life Cover for people not in the pension

20–21 Commuting to work- Mileage- Cycle to work scheme- Car parking pass

22–23 Social activities- SocialYtes

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2–3 Introduction- Introduction from Tony Stacey, Chief Executive of South Yorkshire Housing Association

4–5 Contents- List of contents

6–7 Health and Wellbeing- Vaccinations- Flexible working- Eye tests for VDU users- Flexi time- Job share- Gym membership

8–9 Your Westfield Health- Overview of offer

10-11 Annual leave- Sick pay- Dependent days- Maternity leave- Paternity leave- Shared parental leave- Adoption leave- Compassionate leave- Public duties- Jury service

Contents

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Health and wellbeing

We know that you do your best work when you’re happy and feel good. Your health and wellbeing is our number one priority, so there’s lots of support and advice available to give you everything you need to be ready for your role.

Work-life balance

Flexi-timeMost of our roles offer flexibility around the hours you can work. As long as your contracted hours are completed, and you can do the work you need to do, you can work between 7.45am and 6.30pm.

This means if you need to come in late, or finish early you’ve got the flexibility to do so without using annual leave.

Staying fit and healthy

VaccinationsSome of our frontline roles involve working regularly with customers. This could mean that you are at a higher risk of picking up a bug, so we offer free

vaccinations, such as Flu and Hepatitis B, to staff in such roles. To see if you are eligible for a free vaccination speak to your line manager or contact HR.

Eye testsLots of our roles involve looking at a computer screen for long periods, which for some people might mean you need to wear glasses.

If you regularly use a computer as part of your role, you can claim money back for your eye tests every two years.

To make a claim all you need to do is get a form from your manager and obtain a receipt from the opticians. You will then be reimbursed from petty cash using the H&S code.

You can also claim back some costsfor glasses or contact lenses through your free Westfield Health cover.

‘Hitting the gym’

Staying active is really important to help maintain your health and wellbeing – when you’re feeling your best, you will do your best work!

That’s why we’ve negotiated some fantastic discounted rates at gyms across South Yorkshire for you to take advantage of.

• Places for People Leisure – with our 15% corporate discount you can have a monthly membership at one of five leisure centres for just £32.30. You can also access a joint membership, so if you want to add a family member or friend, the rate drops to £29.30 a month.

• Sheffield International Venues (SIV) – we’ve negotiated a peak and off-peak discounted rate for staff to use at any of SIV’s eight gyms across Sheffield.

• Virgin Active – monthly memberships at the Virgin Active Health Club at Broadfield Park in Sheffield start from £47 a month for an off-peak membership.

To find out if we can negotiate a corporate membership at your local leisure centre contact the HR team.

Flexible workingBeing able to work flexibly is really important to lots of staff, especially if anything changes unexpectedly in your personal life.

Wherever possible we’ll work with you to find a working arrangement that works best for you. This might be working part-

time, a temporary reduction in hours, compressed hours or working from home.

Talk to your line manager about exploring your options around flexible working or take a look at the Worklife Balance Policy on SYnet.

Job shareA change at home might mean you need to work fewer hours. Job sharing gives you, and another employee, the chance to share a full-time position.

This allows you to work fewer hours whilst maintaining your career and personal development in your role.

Not all roles are suitable for job share, so you either need to apply for a new role that is open to job share, or put in a flexible working request.

More details on job share are available in our Job Share Policy.

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We have a range of policies designed to give you flexible options to manage your working hours for the times when you most need this.

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Westfield Mosaic Health Plan

YourWestfield Health

Employee monthly premium: Corporate Paid Partner monthly premium: £5.19 per month

Money Back (100% reimbursement, up to your maximum allowance)

Optical Policyholder Dependent children*

Up to £40 Up to £40

Consultation Policyholder Dependent children*

Up to £150 Up to £150

Therapy Treatments** Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Osteopathy,Homeopathy and Chiropractic

Policyholder Dependent children*

Up to £100 Up to £100

Dental PolicyholderDependent children*

Up to £45Up to

Up to

Up to

Up to

£45

Chiropody Policyholder £35

Policyholder £75

Health Screening Policyholder £100

Cash payouts

Maternity / Paternity / Adoption Per child Policyholder 50

Health and Wellbeing

MRI, CT and PET Scanning Facilities This is not a cash benefit. We will arrange your scan for you. Policyholder YES

DoctorLine TM Policyholder and Resident Family YES

Best Doctors® Policyholder and Resident Family YES

Westfield Rewards Policyholder YES

24hr Counselling and Advice Line Policyholder and Resident Family YES

Personal Health Risk Assessment Policyholder and Resident Family YES

Wellbeing & Alternative Therapy Treatments Acupressure, Allergy Testing, Nutritional Therapy, Food Intolerance Testing,Aromatherapy, Hypnotherapy, Indian Head Massage,Nutritional Therapy, Reiki & Sports Massage

During your time working with us your health and wellbeing both inside and outside the workplace is our number one priority. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Westfield Health to offer every member of staff free healthcare benefits and services.

As part of a specially designed scheme for SYHA staff, their ‘Mosaic’ benefits scheme can save you hundreds of pounds a year on everyday healthcare, such as visits to the optician or dentist, alternative therapies and much more.

You’ll even be able to claim back up to 100% of the costs of other healthcare using their cashback offer.

Best of all if you’ve got children, they’ll automatically be covered for some of the benefits at no extra cost – and you can upgrade your cover to add your partner.

Across the page is a full breakdown of the free benefits you can access as part of your cover.

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Annual leave Whilst working with us we want you to do the best work of your life. But for that to happen you need time to recharge the batteries – weekends don’t count!

That’s why we offer all employees a generous annual leave package, which means full-time staff are entitled to 39 days a year annual leave. This includes eight Bank Holidays as well as four extra ‘SYHA Days’ of leave.

Annual leave is your time to relax, unwind and spend time doing whatever makes you happy. Sometimes there will be things that happen in your life which are out of your control, and mean that you need some extra time off work, but don’t worry, we’ve got it covered.

• Adoption leave – we offer Enhanced Adoption Pay which includes 26 weeks full pay, 13 weeks statutory pay and 13 weeks unpaid leave.

• Compassionate leave – you can get up to five days paid leave for a family bereavement or situation.

• Dependent and Carers leave – in the case of an emergency for any dependents you might have, or people you care for, we offer up to five days of paid leave.

• Jury service – we’ll cover your full salary for two weeks whilst you’re away.• Maternity leave – we offer Enhanced Maternity Pay which includes 26 weeks

full pay, 13 weeks statutory pay and 13 weeks unpaid leave. • Paternity leave – when your baby arrives you can get up to two weeks of paid

time off.• Shared Parental leave – you can split your parental leave with your partner.• Sick pay – if you joined us before 1st July 2012 you’re entitled to six months full

pay, and six months half pay. If you joined us after 1st July 2012 your entitlement depends on how long you’ve been with us:

- Probationary period – statutory sick pay - Under one year service – one week full pay - One to two years’ service – one month full pay - Two to three years’ service – three months full pay and three months half pay - Three to four years’ service – four months full pay and four months half pay - Over four years’ service – six months full pay and six months half pay

• Time off for public duties – if you hold a certain public position you are entitled to leave (sometimes fully paid) whilst you carry out these duties.

To find out more about your leave options take a look at the Worklife Balance Policy on SYnet.

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Other leave options

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Homelife

Moving homeDid you know that as an employee of SYHA you’re eligible for a discounted rate to sell or let your home through our subsidiary estate agency, Crucible Sales and Lettings?

Using this discount you can sell your property from just £800+VAT.

Their expert staff really know South Yorkshire and use their local knowledge to get the best deal for you. Best of all, all the profit Crucible make goes straight back into SYHA services.

DIYThinking of re-decorating a room at home? Do your walls need a lick of paint? As an employee of SYHA you can get an amazing 20% off at your local Crown Decorating Centre.

Looking after your family

Paying for childcare can be really expensive, so to help cover some of the cost we offer all employees access to childcare vouchers.

The way it works is that you salary sacrifice an amount of your salary to be used for childcare. Because these contributions are tax-free, and National Insurance exempt, you save money on the total cost of your childcare.

You can save up to £930 a year using childcare vouchers, and best of all your partner can sign up too, doubling the amount you can claim.

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Your induction

Getting off to a flying start is really important. That’s why we make sure that all our new staff get an in-depth induction to the organisation and our values.

You will meet people from Directors to front-line staff in your first weeks with us. Our aim is to settle you in and help you gain the skills and confidence you need in your role.

Learning anddevelopment

Essential skills

To do a great job, you need the right training. We provide all of our staff with the essential skills they need to do their job, including support with professional qualifications and if necessary, study leave.

Everyone learns in a different way, so we use a combination of the latest e-learning, classroom sessions and on-the-job coaching to help you be at your best every day.

What makes SYHA special is our people – and we’re committed to helping them do the best work of their career with us. We want your career with us to be rewarding and be an environment where you continually learn new things.

We’re already recognised as an Investor in People Gold and if there’s something we can do to help you develop as part of your role, we’ll do our best to make it happen.

Personal learning

All of our staff have access to a range of opportunities that support their own individual development plan. Our award winning LeadWell development programme includes:• E-learning - with over 1,000 online modules covering every topic you can imagine!• Guest speakers – we welcome successful and inspirational people from every

walk of life to share their story.• Learning library - interesting books and DVDs to take away, watch and be inspired.• LifeBites - short sessions providing you with insights, tools and techniques to use

in your role such as building confidence and personal effectiveness.• Masterclasses for managers – going through all the skills you need to lead and

engage with your team.

LeadWell AcademyThere are lots of great opportunities for people to progress in our business. Whether your career journey takes you into management or new opportunities, our LeadWell Academy gives you a platform to accelerate your learning and development.

Our 12 month programme provides you with a gateway to gain further qualifications, a chance to network with industry professionals and time with

your own personal mentor from our senior leadership team.

The majority of graduates have gone on to be promoted or offered new roles as a result of their journey.

We also offer places on external mentoring schemes, opportunities to attend industry-wide conferences and project-work to further develop your career.

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Increments

Extra moneyin your pocket

Salaries at SYHA are structured into six salary bands, with four salary increments per band. When you first start in your role you’ll be on the first increment and will move to your second increment based on how you’re performing in your role during the first 6 to 24 months.

Your third and fourth increments are based on service, and are paid after three and five years respectively.

Family band 1 works slightly differently and starters begin on the lowest increment and receive the second increment after one years’ service and the third after two years’ service.

On-callFor some of our trade roles in our Home Maintenance Team you’ll be part of a rota to be on call over weekends.

Which attracts on call payments ranging from £29.15 to £111.17.

Multi-trades bonusWhen our Home Maintenance Team are called out to do a job with more than one skill needed we sometimes need staff to do a job outside their core skills.

This means that the job can be completed faster for the customer, and it means we save money on sending more than one member of staff to a job.We provide training for jobs that staff

are asked to do outside their core skills, and to compensate them we offer a multi-trade bonus of £86.85 a month.

Gas safety payments

For staff who carry out gas repairs and maintenance we offer a monthly contribution of £53.59 towards the costs associated with being accredited to carry out such work.

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Pension schemes

Your pension

When you start working with us you’ll be automatically enrolled in our pension scheme and deducted 1% of your salary. This is one of two different pension schemes we offer, and you can choose which one works best for you.

As an organisation we make generous donations to each of the pension schemes we offer, however, we can’t help you decide which scheme is best for you – the choice is yours!

Life coverIf you’ve chosen to opt out of our pension scheme you’ll be automatically enrolled in our life cover scheme – unless you choose to opt out.

Should the worst happen, the policy ensures that your family are looked after financially.

The policy provides three times your salary to your nominated beneficiary(s).

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Car parking pass

Some of our roles involve being out and about on the road on a daily basis. These Essential Car User (ECU) roles attract an on-site car parking space, or a season ticket for a nearby car park.

Based on current prices this saves you just over a £1000 in car parking fees, so it’s a great perk!

Cycle to work schemeThe cost of driving in to work and parking can really add up over a year. Even if you use public transport a season ticket can cost you over a £1,000 a year.

That’s why we’ve signed up to the Government’s ‘Cyclescheme’ so you cansave hundreds of pounds buying a new

bike. By paying for a bike through a salary sacrifice you make tax and NI savings on your purchase.All you need to do is get a quote for a bike and any accessories you need from a participating Cyclescheme partner shop and the start your online application.

Commutingto work

Mileage

As part of your role you might need to travel to meetings or appointments using your own transport. So we’ve made sure that whenever you need to make a trip that we’ll cover the cost of your travel, including the cost of any parking, which we’ve outlined below.

To receive a mileage payment you will need to share your full driving licence, car insurance certificate and a valid MOT certificate with the HR department.

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Car Allowance (ECU) £94.36

First Aid Payment £10.83

Casual Mileage per mile £0.45

Motorcycle Mileage per mile £0.24

Bicycle Mileage per mile £0.20

Car Share Extra 5p per mile

Essential & Casual Car User Payments Rates (£)

Car Mileage per mile £0.40

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Social activities

SocialYtes

Just because you’re at work doesn’t mean we don’t want you to enjoy yourself and have fun.

Our SocialYtes are a group of staff from across the organisation who organise our social events. When you first start at SYHA you’ll automatically be invited to join us for a welcome drink!

We’ve got a regular calendar of activities planned throughout the year,

and all staff are encouraged to join in.Events range from nights out bowling, to barbecues, walks in the countryside and charity events. If there’s something you’d like to try, just let us know!

Did you know that our SocialYtes raised an amazing £500 for charity in 2016?

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