Join a team that puts your wellbeing first to help your practice flourish

With many people looking to swap city life for country life, now could be the time to consider a move to East Riding of Yorkshire Council to join one of our social work teams.

The council has a number of vacancies across our children’s social care teams and with an enhanced financial and wellbeing package as well as the opportunity to live, work and explore the beautiful East Riding – there is definitely a role to suit you!

Our practitioners and social workers say working for East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s children’s social care is like being part of a family.

That’s because we genuinely believe that relationships are the foundation to excellent practice and to creating a safe and nurturing work environment.

We work with each other in the same way that we work with children, young people and their families; with compassion, collaboration, care and genuine warmth.

We want our practitioners, families and communities to grow, develop, and succeed.

The ambition of the team here at East Riding of Yorkshire Council is for all children and young people to lead fulfilling lives where they are happy, healthy, confident and safe, and where we work in partnership to remove barriers to achievement and narrow the gap so everyone can reach their potential.

We recognise that in order to achieve this with children and young people, our practitioners need to feel fulfilled, nurtured, skilled, supported and listened to.

That is why leaders across our service have introduced a high wellbeing approach, which includes a wide range of wellbeing policies and practices that make sure that we honour our workforce, good practice is celebrated and that our teams feel supported.

This is part of our culture where we recognise the challenges but we match that with high support.

Penny Donno, head of children and young people’s support and safeguarding services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “We are committed to creating a healthy culture where our social workers feel supported and listened to and that the needs of our social workers as professionals are balanced with their personal needs, such as their own family time.

“These new policies and strategies have the wellbeing of our staff at heart and I think this is a really exciting opportunity for people to come to the East Riding and join us on our journey as we create a practice system that we are all absolutely proud of.”

Here are some of the benefits social workers can expect when working for us:

• Because we care about your work-life balance – the opportunity of flexible working patterns including the option of working a new nine-day fortnight, ie 74 hours worked over nine days with a scheduled non-working day.
• Because we care about you making memories with your own friends and family – Christmas to New Year close down – those working on a rota basis will be paid additional hours or time off in lieu.
• Because we care about giving our newly qualified social workers the best start to their social work career – protected workload during assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE), including one day protected learning time every fortnight, and a dedicated full-time mentor.
• Because we care about your career and helping you to achieve your goals – clear career progression from ASYE and between social work grades with learning and development programme mapped against each stage to support you on your journey.
• Because we know we need to be flexible to support your learning and development – effective practice consultants who offer support and coaching to individuals and teams in your own work environments.
• And, because we believe in rewarding and celebrating achievements, strengths and best practice – monthly staff awards and annual award ceremonies where achievements are rewarded through recognition, trophies/medals, and vouchers.

Take a look at our children’s social care information page for a full range of benefits and support.

For those interested in joining East Riding, a series of online roadshows are due to be held in February. All the events will take place on Microsoft Teams and people can find out more and book onto the sessions by visiting our website.

Social worker Whitney has this message for those thinking of joining East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s children’s social care team:

“You’ll be joining a team that values and carers about its staff, that listens to your opinion and provides constant support. And because we want you to grow, there’s plenty of opportunity for development.”

So are you IN?

For more information on our service and current job vacancies go to our website.