When Donna’s daughter swapped jobs she struggled to find childcare for her own young daughter. To bridge the gap, Donna stepped in to help. As a Service Delivery Manager at Ingeus, she arranged to adjust her working hours, allowing her to pick up her granddaughter from school twice a week and provide the support her family needed.
“There was no hesitation in making it happen, the support from Ingeus was great,” says Donna. “They understand that yes, people are here to do a job, but they have other things going on in their lives too.”
57-year-old Donna is part of the Ingeus Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS), which provides health assessments for people with health conditions and disabilities. She found her way to Ingeus after she was made redundant following 33 years working for a high street bank. Looking for a job where she could use her skills to support other people, she initially took on an employability role before working for a different HAAS supplier. When the contract transferred to Ingeus, it was a move Donna welcomed as two former bank colleagues had joined the business and ‘had great things to say about it’.
She says the level of support she had from day one was unbelievable:
“I’ve had several vocational training sessions and Ingeus also trained me to become a Mental Health First Aider. It means I can support anybody in the business who wants to talk about how they are feeling and what they are experiencing.”
Donna works from home, as does the rest of her team, and says her role as a manager has a dual function: to ensure colleagues deliver quality assessments that meet business projections, and to look after their welfare.
“Ingeus has great support in place for colleagues’ mental and physical health and I make sure my team is aware of that. In turn, I feel supported by my manager and the leadership team around me.
“Support is easy to access – mental health advice is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year; it’s a really good service.
“We have private medical health care accessible to everybody, subsidised through a points system based on living a healthy lifestyle. Points are earned by things like having regular dentist and optician appointments, mammograms, and keeping up daily step counts.”
“I totally believe that if you are happy in your job, and feel supported, you will be good at it. I strive to ensure my team feels connected and has a sense of purpose – that’s the winning formula.
“Would I recommend Ingeus as a good employer? Absolutely!”
