What we offer

We are a hard working organisation that believes in the power of our craft and labour to change the world and achieve our social mission. Our Staff Offer recognises that culture and creates space for people to thrive within a high-pressured environment. We hope it will encourage talented people to stay long-term, build the cooperative and continue the hard graft of changing the world in a way that’s sustainable for them and the people around them.

1. Team meetings - focussed on skill-sharing presentations, building relationships, important updates and talking about what we’re working on - always accompanied by tasty snacks! 

2. Monthly management update - the ED gives a monthly update on the organisation’s performance towards its objectives.

3. Central London office - we have invested in our office space because we work better in collaboration. It’s an accessible space with room for our team and to accommodate folks in our network, with spaces for quiet working, meeting spaces and calls. Our work moves quickly and we make every hour count.
   We also want to give junior team members the best training and learning opportunities and that’s most effective in person. 

4. Working from home - while the office is our main place of work, from time to time people prefer to work from home to crack a difficult task or to juggle a family or housing emergency. 

5. Flexitime - staff are encouraged to work flexibly while keeping colleagues informed and factoring your deadlines into how you structure your days. The minimum you need to log on any given day is 4 hours.

6. Annualised hours and overtime:  this means we look at the total hours staff have worked over the course of a year rather than on a monthly basis. This allows for chances to recover after intense periods of work or to earn overtime.

7. Overtime pay: If over the course of the year you have worked over your contracted hours, you’ll be paid overtime at the end of the financial year. Working in campaigning can include long hours and overtime recognizes that additional effort. Staff can decide whether to receive this as an employer bonus contribution to their pension instead.

8. Co-line management: Each member of staff has two named co-line managers with whom they’ll meet regularly, providing time and opportunity to reflect on achievements and challenges, receive feedback, discuss training or learning needs and set goals together.

9. On-boarding: New starters work across different projects, which will create opportunities to practise the skills needed to pass probation. Each new starter also has a training budget to help nurture specific competencies along the way which might need particular attention.

10. Flat pyramid and partnership: Anyone in the organisation can work to become a partner, which is the highest rank at the organisation and has a flat rate of pay. This encourages progression throughout the organisation based on merit, so no one is ever waiting for someone to leave in order to be recognised and promoted.

11. Holiday allowance: All staff get 28 days of annual leave including bank-holidays. 

12. Flexible bank holiday: The majority of bank-holidays in the UK are Christian festivals, we believe in an inclusive working culture where people can take leave for the festivals that matter to them. You don’t have to take bank holidays off if you don’t want to.

13. Emergency Family leave: We recognise that the wellbeing of those close to us can have an impact on our life and work too. There are up to 3 days paid Emergency Family Leave available to take care of dependents when unexpected circumstances arise.

14. Living wage & paid internships: We are signed up to the London Living Wage and will never offer unpaid internships. This is an important way to provide access to the sector to people who might not be able to do the usual unpaid internships.
    We will from time to time offer unpaid work experience placements to under-18s still at school as an opportunity to experience campaign work.

15. Paid sick leave - we offer fully paid sick leave for up to 3 weeks.

1. Cooperative membership: As a member of the cooperative you get the chance to have your say at General Meetings, proposing motions and electing the board. You’re also encouraged to stand for election to be on the board. The board appoints the Executive Director and this is how you exercise your power to decide who leads the organisation. 

2. Regular Performance Reviews: Annual reviews that incorporate 360 degree feedback and targets to support the continuing growth and development of all employees.

1. Extended holiday: 35 days of holidays including bank holidays and any office closures. 

2. Wellbeing allowance: Small Axe pays a wellbeing stipend of £600 gross per year which appears on your payslip in January.

You could use this as you wish, though we would encourage you to consider activities or equipment to support your wellbeing such as exercise, counselling or therapy.
Staff can decide whether to receive this as an employer bonus contribution to their pension instead.

3. Continuous Professional Development: This includes time to refresh core competencies like safeguarding, GDPR, spreadsheets, writing etc. as well as development opportunities. 

4. New Parent Leave policy: The New Parent offer is for all parents, regardless of gender, who want to take time off specifically to look after the child. That includes adoptive parents and intended parents through surrogacy. It’s not impacted by what the other parent receives.
   The full offer includes 6 weeks at full pay, 20 weeks at living wage, 13 weeks statutory and 13 weeks unpaid leave as well as paid time off for antenatal appointments and a £1,000 gift.

5. Sabbatical policy: We offer the opportunity for long-serving members of the team to take an extended period of paid leave in order to recharge.
   The offer is 4 weeks paid leave which can be combined with up to 4 weeks of annual leave. Team are eligible for a sabbatical after 5 years of working at Small Axe, and then every 5 years after that.