General Services Team Leader, Facilities

Accommodation & Commercial Services

Grade 5: - £24,285 - £27,131 per annum
Open-Ended/Permanent - Full Time
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 14-Oct-2022, 6:59:00 AM

Job Family: Estates and Information Infrastructure Services

Department: Estates and Facilities Directorate, Accommodation and Commercial Services
Responsible to: Housekeeping, Cleaning and General Services Manager
Responsible for: General Services Assistants
Grade: Grade 5
Salary range: £24,285 - £27,131 per annum
Contract type: Permanent
Working arrangements: Full-time (35 hours), Any five days out of seven days

Please note, applications will be reviewed as they are received therefore early applications are strongly encouraged. The advert will be removed once the post is filled.

Reward and Benefits

To support the delivery of the University's People Strategy to attract, retain and reward the very best, we offer a fantastic range of rewards and benefits  to our staff, including:

• 27 days annual leave, plus 4 customary days and 8 bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time) and the option to purchase additional leave
• Automatic enrolment into a pension scheme
• Corporate and local discounts
• Wellbeing resources and discounted health benefits
• Health discounts on sports and activities at Maiden Castle Health and Activity Centre
• Reward and Recognition Schemes
• Personal and career development

And SO much more!

Working Arrangements

At Durham, we recognise that our staff and students are our greatest asset and we want to support the health and wellbeing of all.  Hybrid working supports this ethos and provides many benefits to our colleagues, including empowering people, where their role allows, to work in a manner which is more suitable for them, whilst encouraging our commitment to environmental sustainability.

Depending on the needs of the business and the job role, Durham University is piloting hybrid working for all Professional Services colleagues in the academic year 2021/22, which may include the opportunity to work both on and off campus and flex working hours. If appointed to the post, your line-manager will discuss the specific arrangements with you. Any hybrid arrangements are non-contractual and may change within the pilot and when the pilot ends.

The Department and role purpose

The Estates and Facilities Directorate provides a number of essential services to Durham University and is responsible for managing, maintaining and developing the infrastructure and building fabric of the various campuses, including:

• maintaining and regularly reviewing maintenance programmes which takes account of short, medium and long term needs of all buildings;
• implementing the works identified and funded within the various maintenance programmes and operating a system for dealing with day-to day requirements, 
• providing a professional, technical service to the University for the design, construction and procurement of new buildings and adaptation works to existing buildings;
• identifying and recording the use of space and advising on ways of increasing space utilisation;
•  property and asset management; 
• acquisition and disposal of built environment related assets
• procuring and managing utilities and services;
• providing postal, delivery and security arrangements and advice to the University; and
• the delivery of a wide-range of customer-facing services, including: contract management; estates and facilities relationships management; housekeeping and cleaning, business resilience, event management; reception helpdesk; university retail; business support; health and safety; and management information.

The General Services Team Leader will provide exceptional general services that are effective, efficient and offer value for money; ensuring the University is well-maintained, welcoming and a pleasant environment for staff, students and visitors.

The post-holder will have day-to-day supervisory responsibility for the General Services Assistants, within their team.

Core responsibilities

• Act as more knowledgeable team member with oversight and day-to-day supervisory responsibility for team members, to ensure objectives are met.
• Resolve queries and requests for information and advice and escalate more specialist and complex queries or issues to Line Manager.
• Provide advice, guidance and training, where necessary, to team members to disseminate and share practice, such as COSHH, manual handling, safe use of equipment, fire training, etc.
• Contribute to the ADR process, assisting with the identification of development needs, where appropriate.
• Supervise the implementation of changes to service procedures and practice.
• Contribute to collaborative decision making within the team with joint planning and team objectives to meet excellence in the stakeholder experience.
• Provide feedback to team members about the monitoring and achievement of team objectives and performance expectations.
• Work collaboratively across the organisation and/or externally with colleagues and stakeholders to deliver a service.
• Provide guidance and advice to resolve problems and queries for a broad range of service users.
• Plan and organise own workload and activities for others with or without involvement with other project work streams.
• Organise and schedule resources, activities and events.
• Analyse work activities to ensure the effective and efficient use of capital and consumable equipment and resources.
• Liaise with contacts internally and possibly externally to build links to pass on information for effective working.
• Advise others and make recommendations into work processes and procedures for consideration by senior management to improve services.

Role responsibilities

• Deliver infrastructure support services to support administrative, business, teaching, research and learning activities across the University’s estate.
• Assist colleagues to achieve operational service requirements, planning, carrying out and documenting evaluations and tests to ensure stakeholder requirements are met.
• Manage and monitor the use of components, resources and equipment, including the condition of equipment, complying with the correct procedures for stock management and replacement.
• Accurately record data and information and provide reports, as required.
• Support the use of assistive technologies, social media and applications to meet security and safety regulations.
• Contribute to the preparation of and update safety document and risk assessments concerning activities across the estates environments. 
• Apply recognised professional procedures and techniques, to ensure the security, safety, integrity and viability of infrastructure facilities and components for stakeholder and public access and use.
• Liaise with outside agencies, local authorities, suppliers and visitors to ensure the safe and secure delivery of services.
• Contribute to managing the delivery services operating budget, to meet budget requirements without compromising stakeholder satisfaction.
• Contribute to welfare issues within own team, such as monitoring attendance and absence levels, coordinating staff cover, managing poor performance and implementing personal improvement plans, in accordance with University policy.
• Support with the recruitment of team members who demonstrate strong functional expertise and a positive ‘can do’ attitude to work, to meet the needs of the operation.
• Provide guidance with the induction of new staff into the work team.
• Required to provide cover for the Postal and Delivery Services team, during periods of absence.
• Any other reasonable duties.

Specific role requirements

• Will be required to work evenings and weekend, on a rota basis, as business needs.
• Will require an element of physical manual handling, such as lifting and transporting equipment and deliveries.
• Attend all training, as required.

Recruiting to this post

In order to be considered for interview, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification below (including those listed in the section ‘Realising Your Potential Approach’).

In some cases, the recruiting panel may also consider the desirable criteria, so we recommend you evidence all criteria in your application.

Please note that some criteria will only be considered at interview stage.

How to apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What you are required to submit

Please ensure that you submit the documentation listed above or your application will not be considered.

Contact details

For further information please contact: Lisa Blundell: [email protected] .

At Durham University, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work. We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force, including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Person specification - skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required

Essential Criteria

Desirable Criteria

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.