The Deal

Career Development

Your training plan

When you start, you'll follow a comprehensive induction programme, which will show you more about our organisation and help you get to know colleagues from other departments and disciplines. But that's just the beginning.

We go on to offer you a whole range of development opportunities, including 1-to-1 training, mentoring, briefings, conferences, seminars, exhibitions, attachments and secondments. You'll have your own personal development plan so that you can influence the shape and direction of your own career.This process also helps us to focus precisely on your development needs.

Technical training

We have a comprehensive technical training programme as managed by our heads of profession for each discipline, which is accredited to the IET.

A wide range of learning activities, including external training courses and a continually updated supply of books and ebooks are available on a wide range of topics including:

• Windows operating system internals
• Developing multithreaded applications
• C# best practices and design patterns
• Real time OS
• Requirements management
• Java Spring & Hibernate
• In house Systems Engineering course
• In house Digital Signal Processing course

Where appropriate, we encourage professional certification and most recently have promoted Cisco network administrators and ISTQB/ISEB software testing certifications.

Chartership 

We're serious about making sure our training supports our people. We currently have people with membership to the following professional institutions:

• The British Computer Society
• The Institute of Engineering & Technology
• The Institute of Physics
• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• The Association for Project Management
• The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply
• The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development
• The Association of Accounting Technicians
• The Institute of Process Control
• The Institute of Directors

Career paths/competency frameworks 

At HMGCC we've established a competency and skills framework, to help our staff with development, career planning and progression. A set of core competencies, critical to our business delivery, is complemented by skills frameworks across most disciplines, including programme and project managment, IT and HR. 

As HMGCC's main area of business is engineering we also have a competency framework that covers all aspects of our multi­ disciplined engineering environment from development to manufacturing. The framework has been designed to follow our product development approach.

All our people also work towards the 7 core competencies. These cover areas such as working with others, communicating and influencing and planning & delivery.

Management training

Our management development training comprises three main programmes: 

• Manager's essentials
• Continuing development
• Advanced management

These programmes have been specifically designed to equip our people with the necessary tools to build upon their experiences and become first-rate managers. They're are all supported by an array of personal development courses in areas such as assertiveness, effective writing, mentoring, presentation and time management.

Benefits

CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association)

Membership of CSMA costs £15 a year. For this you'll get special rates for house and car insurance, a monthly magazine, a breakdown service and discounts for new cars and other benefits, including holidays. Go to www.csma.uk.com to find out more.

Life insurance

If you choose to enrol in the Nuvos pension scheme you'll automatically benefit from life insurance. Our people can also access additional life insurance at a competitive rate negotiated with a leading provider, and can insure themselves for between £50,000 and £300,000.

Professional fees/subscriptions

If you're a member of a professional body which supports the work that you are doing, we will pay your annual subscription.

Staff association

The staff association gives you the opportunity to make suggestions and ask questions about how the organisation is run. It also acts as a consultative body when there are changes or issues that affect you. 

Life/work balance

Our normal working hours are 8.15 am to 4.15 pm (Monday to Thursday) and 8.15 am to 3.45 pm (Friday) with a daily lunch break of half an hour. We are, however, as flexible as we can be with people's working hours and some members of our team work part-time or have different working hours agreed with their managers.

Your leave entitlement starts at 25 days and rises to 30 days a year after 5 years. As civil servants we also benefit from a further 2.5 days of privilege holiday on top of all the normal bank holidays. In total, you can look forward to 10.5 days of privilege and bank holidays.

Health & Fitness

Gym

We can offer you a well-equipped, modern on-site gym which is free to use, with registered exercise professionals who lead regular classes. They'll be available to advise you on both your training and nutritional needs.

There's a huge range of gym classes on offer to suit all abilities. These include aerobics, cardio attack, body sculpt, kick boxing, spin, running club and yoga. We're always open to ideas if there's a different class you'd like to see. There are also bikes available for employees to make the most of the local environment during breaks and after work.

Flu jabs

Everyone who works here is offered the flu vaccine free of charge.

Bikes for work 

You can borrow up to £1,200 to purchase a bike and accessories to use for cycling to work. This is then repaid over a period of either 12, 18, 24 or 36 months before tax and national insurance are deducted.

BUPA

You're entitled to join BUPA on the Civil Service scheme which offers a 45% discount. The cost of a policy varies according to personal circumstances and further information is available at www.bupa.co.uk

CSSC (Civil Service Sports Council)

As well as offering our members a wide range of sports and leisure facilities, we also stage a range of local and national competitions. Membership also means you'll enjoy discounts at various high street stores, admission to a variety of attractions, travel discounts and discounts on holidays.

Eye test

If you regularly use display screen equipment you can claim the cost of an eye test and any retests (as long as these adhere to the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992.) If you need spectacles specifically for VDU work, we may also make a contribution toward these.

Sports & social committee

We plan and arrange events, activities and trips for HMGCC people. We also organise participation in fundraising events such as the Race for Life.

Childcare

Hanslope Park nursery 

Hanslope Park nursery is a well-established, small, independent nursery, with a warm and friendly atmosphere and a caring, dedicated team. It's purpose built, with four main rooms offering bright and stimulating environments for children between 3 months and 5 years. All our staff are qualified to NNEB, BTEC or equivalent level, or are training towards it. Together, we provide the very highest-quality care for your child - making sure that we're working closely in partnership with you at all times.

Your child will enjoy a variety of learning and play opportunities, all of which are designed to help them reach their full potential. Children from 3 months and above have folders in which they keep their work allowing you to follow your child's progress in colouring, drawing, pencil control and letter and number recognition. Outside play is also encouraged. We have an enclosed play area as well as a beautiful sensory garden that the children can enjoy, plus a small wild wood for them to explore under supervision.

The nursery is open every weekday except for public holidays and we're open 8am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursdays, and from 8am - 5pm on Fridays. If you'd like to see our latest OFSTED report, just ask us, or go to www.ofsted.gov.uk for more details.

Childcare vouchers

We're registered with Accor childcare vouchers, a salary sacrifice scheme that will enable you to make a tax saving on your childcare costs. For a basic taxpayer (20%), you can purchase vouchers up to £55 a week, a maximum annual gain of £920. Higher annual taxpayers can buy vouchers up to £28 a week, with a maximum saving of £610.