Holidays: In addition to UK public holidays you will receive 25 days of paid leave per year. You will be asked to retain up to four of these days for use in the period between Christmas and New Year. Applications for additional unpaid leave will occasionally be considered on their merits.
Working hours: Normal working hours are 9-5.30 Monday-to-Thursday, and 9-5 on Friday. However, we are a professional services company and account handlers will be required to put-in whatever time is necessary to provide the client’s deliverables. All staff are treated as ‘professionals’ and we do not pay overtime (but see reference to ‘bonuses’ in the section on remuneration). Administrative and support staff may also occasionally be asked to work additional hours or weekends, though this is extremely rare. Account handlers (and, occasionally, administrative and support staff) may be asked to travel to overseas locations to carry out business, and in these circumstances working hours may be significantly longer. Staff working in countries outside the UK will observe public holidays and working hours relevant to that country, as agreed with the agency.
The agency’s strong preference is for staff to be office-based. However, in certain circumstances, and at the discretion of the directors, the agency may be able to offer an element of home-working and working hours flexibility to meet the requirements of an employee or freelancer.
Remuneration: Will depend on qualifications and experience. We traditionally pay account handlers at the higher end of industry norms, and salary is not usually a bar to recruiting the right account handling staff.
Administrative and support staff (often recruited locally) benefit even more by comparison with remuneration offered by other local employers.
If the company does well in the course of a financial year, the directors may award staff with a discretionary bonus after the year-end audit. The amount will be based on the company’s profitability, an assessment as to the individual’s contribution to that profitability, and other factors.
Notice periods: Most staff are on four weeks notice. For senior account handlers this may be extended to three or occasionally six months, by mutual agreement.
Training: The agency is committed to training provision and career development. Account handlers joining the company will undergo a Training Needs Analysis at approximately three months, and will be offered training as appropriate at that point.
In addition to normal in-house training, and external training conducted by approved training organisations, the company operates a reward-led Computer Based Training (CBT) programme for core account handling skills on its intranet. Account handlers passing a pre-determined number of modules within a specified time-frame are rewarded with salary increments.
Social events: The agency’s Christmas Party is traditionally residential (though this will depend on circumstances). The agency likes to arrange other social events occasionally, some of them involving partners.