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I am a 47 year old transgender female with three wonderful children.
As I live on the edge of East Herts, my work starts as soon as I enter the district. I am the Enforcement and Operations Officer, and I currently manage offences under the Environmental Protection Act. I investigate flytips by going through the waste in a bid to identify the perpetrator and make enquiries with companies to establish who they are. I will also interview people under caution and carry out multi-agency work with the local policing team. I issue fixed penalty notices and take people to court with the assistance of my legal colleagues.
My career background has been varied – from working within the building trade and public house management to then becoming a nightclub DJ. After hearing problems, I changed career and entered the Metropolitan Police service. I now work happily alongside the police as well as the National Farmers’ Union, housing associations and other agencies.
East Herts council is a fantastic place to work and all the staff are so friendly and never fail to stop for a chat. It is a very diverse, welcoming and accepting employer and when I recently had a hate incident with a member of the public, they moved heaven and earth to protect me and deal with the situation. I believe I am a valued member of the team and entrusted to just get on with my job.
I think the simple answer to this is: what is stopping you? Come to a place where colleagues are your friends and the job satisfaction is awesome!
I’m the wrong side of forty, but the right side of fifty(!), living with my husband and son just over the border in Essex. Outside of work I enjoy escapism through books, theatre or film, along with enjoying going to the gym, practicing yoga, running, hiking and gardening.
I am the Service Manager for Environmental Health, which in the “good old days” would have been called a Chief Environmental Health Officer. My work now is largely office based, but my team are out there on the front line protecting public health through a range of activities such as food inspections, housing inspections, nuisance investigations and a considerably wide range of other activities.
Things nearly turned out very differently for me. Back at school I was meant to do work experience with a pharmaceutical company, but at the last minute this fell through and I ended up with a placement at my local council. During this time I become interested in the work of Environmental Health and the rest, as they say, is history! I studied for my A-Levels and went on to read Environmental Health at the University of Greenwich.
For me, professionally, one of the big reasons to stay with East Herts Council is its endless thirst to be bigger and better. Whether its adopting new polices to support sustainable development or growth and development of its staff, the council has never shied away from challenges and strives to make the district a better place for everyone.
Staff, including myself, are given opportunities to take on new roles and responsibilities which keeps things interesting, and I’m given the autonomy to decide how best to deliver mine and my teams’ work. On a personal note, in my experience, the council and colleagues are all very inclusive and I feel East Herts is a safe place to work.
If you are looking for a good work/life balance, the council offers competitive pay, when compared to other local authorities in the area, and offers a range of other, non-financial benefits. For me personally, I make use of the discounted gym membership, e-cars for business mileage, the range of wellbeing activities which are put on for employees, health checks and flexible working arrangements. I work compressed hours which means over a two week period I squeeze 10 days into 9, giving me a non-working day once a fortnight, which is great for getting involved in my son’s school routine which I would otherwise miss out on.
If you want to make a positive impact on the local community, work for an inclusive, high achieving employer and for an organisation where the people are great and you are empowered to work autonomously, then East Herts Council may be the place for you!
My journey from volunteering in remote Indian villages inspired my career with East Herts promoting equality, diversity and community wellbeing.
As the Community Wellbeing Programme Officer, I lead on the council’s wellbeing initiatives to improve the physical and mental health of residents. This involves building partnerships with a variety of organisations and community groups across the district.
I studied in India, receiving my Bachelor of Arts (in geography and economics) and Master of Arts in Archaeology from the University of Calcutta.
Instead of repeating my studies in the UK, I decided to pursue my interest in community work so I could continue working with people.
I wanted to be thrown into the challenge of working in a completely different cultural environment and to help address the issues around attracting external funding, raising awareness of equality and diversity and making a positive impact on people’s lives.
As it is a small organisation compared to the unitary authorities I have worked for, I feel there is closeness with colleagues across the council. It is great that I have got to know a huge number of colleagues in different departments; I value these relationships and never feel I work in isolation.
There are a number of benefits to working for East Herts Council such as:
Added to these, I personally think the council is committed to supporting people with disabilities and embracing different cultures. I have benefitted from a number of reasonable adjustments to my working patterns and work area that have enabled me to do my job to my full potential.
My job includes performance analysis across the customer services team, identifying and implementing service improvements, working closely with other departments and councillors to achieve service delivery and supporting my customer service colleagues with their roles, including complaint management.
I come from a retail background having joined a high street retail chain straight from school. I progressed to middle management level where the majority of my roles were within customer service management. I left two years ago to join East Herts and haven’t looked back since.
I had some inside knowledge on local government and what to expect as several of my friends work within local authorities. At the time I was keen to go back into a customer service management role having already called time on my retail career. The opportunity at EHC appealed to me as it felt like it had the most to offer in terms of progression and career enhancement.
My observations of East Herts as an employer on the whole are positive. I feel accepted and valued in my role and I can honestly say I take pride in my work. After spending some time learning on the job, I was recently given the opportunity to progress in my career. As customer services manager, I now oversee a team of 16 people and am excited to be at the forefront of the council’s transformation programme as we work to further improve how people interact with us.
I believe the salary scale is competitive, based on my previous roles. Our flexible way of working also allows a healthy work/life balance and I believe our agile working transition will improve this further.
East Herts offers career development and a great deal of flexibility to its staff. I feel this would be an exciting time to join the organisation as we undergo our digital transformation to a more agile way of working.
