ONE OF THE largest colleges in the country, West Nottinghamshire provides outstanding opportunities for its staff as well as its students. With more than 20,000 students, the college, based in Mansfield, is hard to beat for personal growth, strong leadership and for staff feeling good about it, ranking second, fourth and sixth among all 75 public sector organisations on these issues. Employees are proud to work at the college and believe they can make a valuable contribution to its success, both statements winning positive scores of 77% in our staff survey. People love working here (72%). Employees think the college provides a great service (80%), find work stimulating (75%) and believe the experience they gain is valuable for their future (72%). The programme of staff development opportunities is advertised on the intranet and a dedicated team of learning consultants provides one-to-one coaching to members of the teaching staff. The college has launched programmes to enable staff to grow professionally, including its Routes to Success training course for senior managers of the future and its training scheme for first level support managers. Almost half the staff earn in excess of £25,000 and the average salary of a tutor is £26,246. Employees return the second highest score of any mid-sized body when asked if the training is of great benefit (67%) and they can see that opportunities to learn and grow are not limited (57%, ranking fourth). The college holds employee council meetings twice a term while its car share scheme was introduced in response to feedback from the workforce. Staff also lobbied against a five-year qualifying period for new starters to receive an additional two days' leave and now all receive a minimum of 32 days. Staff find chief executive Asha Khemka inspiring (72%, only two organisations scored higher), saying she runs the college on sound moral principles and they have a great deal of faith in her (both 75%). There is also confidence in the leadership skills of the senior management team (72%). Benefits on offer to the 1,112 staff who work across 11 locations include an on-site crèche, childcare vouchers, free sports facilities, a wellness programme, an employee assistance scheme, discounted services and a final salary pension into which the college pays a minimum of 12.4% of pay. People get a buzz out of working in their team (a top score of 67%) and are excited about where the college is going (69%, the fifth highest score). www.wnc.ac.uk
