Work and volunteer

Every year, we carry out a staff survey to find out what staff feel about working for us, what they love about us, and where we could do better. And it’s not just about the numbers – we’ve also asked staff about their Big Life experience in their own words.

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Across many of Big Life’s services, volunteers play a vital role in working alongside our staff to improve the lives of the communities we work in. Everyone who volunteers for us does so for their own reasons – some want to gain experience and get into work, some see an opportunity to meet people and build new connections, and others just want to give something back and support people who need it most.

Whatever your reasons, if you volunteer with us, you’ll have a volunteer coordinator, who’ll work with you to make sure you get the most possible out of your experience. And, every year, we hold a celebration event to say ‘thank you’ to our amazing volunteers.

It’s important to us that staff feel great while they work here. That partly comes from a supportive, flexible approach to managing and nurturing our staff, but also from a wide range of perks, schemes and support, which help make being part of Big Life a bit brighter:

• Wellbeing passports: Everyone has things going on in their life that affect their ability to be happy at work, and Big Life’s wellbeing passports help staff members to work with their manager to understand their situation, what changes at work might make a difference, and the support we can offer.
• Health and wellbeing champions: Our health and wellbeing champions group is drawn from across the group, and meets regularly to look at how we can best support our staff.
• Peer supporters: Staff peer supporters can help staff within the group who may be experiencing stress, anxiety, grief, or any other emotional difficulties most of us face at some point in time. Peer supporters usually have some of their own life experience to draw on, and are trained to offer support.
• Employee Assistance Programme: All staff  have access to help from LifeWorks, which offers support with emotional, mental, financial, or physical wellbeing. The service is confidential, 24/7, and free to Big Life staff.
• Stop smoking support: Big Life staff looking to stop smoking can access the NHS SmokeFree scheme. Through the scheme, if you quit and stay smoke free for six months, you can claim a £60 of gift vouchers.
• Cycle to work: Anyone looking to get fit on their way to work can access Cycle Solutions, and get a bike for their commute tax free! Through the scheme, Big Life staff can save an average of 32% on the cost of their bike.

Coming to Big Life to work or volunteer can be just the start of your journey. We really believe that if people have the values, the determination and the skills to progress, then we’ll do everything we can to make that happen.

In fact, we’ve got a whole range of stories about people for whom that was the case.

Every year, staff are invited to attend the Big Life Staff Awards – a free evening event with dinner, dancing and awards for those members of staff who have really shown our values or demonstrated the Big Life Way. Last year’s event was at the Mercure Hotel, Manchester, and saw more than 280 staff attend. Take a look at our 2022 winners below:

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Like any organisation, it’s important that we keep track of both our gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

We want to be a great employer and to look after our volunteers, so we’ve received formal accreditations that show our commitment:

• Investors in People (Gold Award)
• Investors in People (Health and Wellbeing)
• Investing in Volunteers
• Mindful Employer
• Disability Confident