Crematoria Saturday Assistant

Overview

Are you a people person?

A good communicator with proven problem-solving skills?

Do you have a keen eye for attention to detail, and pride yourself on giving the best customer service every time?

We are looking for a compassionate, motivated and enthusiastic individual who is committed to delivering a high standard of administration and customer service to support our Crematoria.

Working at our Bierton and Chilterns Crematoria, you will be contracted to work every Saturday. You’ll be making sure that every customer visiting our Crematoria receives the highest standard of service at an emotionally charged time.

This is a varied and rewarding role working within our administration office as well as our chapels providing dignified and professional service to all who use our crematoria.

About us

We are a small team based at Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham, and Bierton Crematorium, Aylesbury. We are proud of the work we do and pride ourselves as the leading crematoria of choice, consistently providing high-quality cremation and commemoration services.

Our Service Mission is to ensure a tranquil and welcoming space for everyone in our community to access our services and providing a respectful and tailored experience with sensitivity and empathy, by professional and caring staff.

In this varied role, you’ll be providing an essential service to bereaved members of our communities taking bookings for cremation services and scattering of ashes, responding to enquiries, providing advice on our services and issuing cremated remains following statutory guidelines. As well as ensuring that chapel services run smoothly and that customer needs are accommodated in a sensitive and understanding way in our chapels.

Career development is something we take seriously; we love nothing more than seeing our colleagues grow with us, with many members of the team progressing quickly as they gain more experience and responsibilities within their specialist areas.

We’re committed to building an exceptional crematoria team, utilising our team members’ talent, and making the most of what they have to offer. With a strong and supportive management team behind you, you’ll be encouraged to develop your skills in areas of interest to you and you’ll have access to further training within the crematoria industry.

About the role

As a Crematoria Saturday Assistant, you’ll work as part of a dedicated and friendly team, to provide a high-quality service that is responsive to our customer needs. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Assisting visitors to the crematoria with a prompt, efficient, sensitive and high-quality service.
• Overseeing the collection of cremated remains, by funeral directors and cremation applicants, ensuring that statutory procedures are followed, and that accurate record keeping is maintained.
• Acting as the first point of contact for families attending the witnessed scattering of ashes, providing advice and guidance.
• Assisting with enquiries regarding the sale of commemorative items, taking payments, where appropriate, and booking appointments for memorial enquiries.
• Administration and operation of the chapel media system, preparation of the crematorium chapel, including distributing service sheets, meeting funeral corteges and checking identity documentation and statutory paperwork for the deceased.
• Attending directly and responsively to the needs of mourners, funeral directors and celebrants responding to requests and enquiries sensitively and diplomatically.

Fixed

As a ‘fixed’ worker, you’ll spend most of your time in the same location, which will likely be a fixed office or location where your role is performed. Typically, you’ll be based in the same location as the rest of your team, because you provide a particular service from that fixed location or need access to information there.

About you

• You’ll demonstrate proven experience of working in a customer facing/contact role.
• You have good communication and interpersonal skills and can communicate sensitively and compassionately with bereaved families.
• You have good literacy and numeracy skills and can check and record information with accuracy.
• You are confident using Outlook and Word and have the ability to learn new systems.
• You have the ability to deal responsively and appropriately with mourners from a variety of faiths.

Other information

For further information on this role please see the attached job summary.

This role is site based at either Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham or Bierton Crematorium, Aylesbury, as part of a small friendly team. It is offered on a part-time basis, 7.5 hours per week, working Saturdays.

The salary is Grade 2 £22,778 however this will be pro rated for 7.5 hours a week giving you an annual salary of £4,617.10

Number of positions available: 1

Closing date: 11th June 2023

Shortlisting date: 14th June 2023

Interview date: Saturday 22nd June 2023

Interview-type / process: In person at Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham

If you would like to have an informal conversation with the recruiting manager, please contact: Jodie Warren, Crematoria Office Supervisor on 01494 724263

This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• Unspent convictions and/or unspent conditional cautions only

For further information on how long it takes for convictions and conditional cautions to be spent, please refer to Nacro’s guide on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day.

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment.

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme and the opportunity to gain membership to Costco. We have discounted gym memberships, Travel discounts with Arriva and Chiltern Railways and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/