Dimensions UK

Sector

Health Care

Location:

Theale

Established in

1975

Employees

4898

Website

www.dimensions-uk.org

About us

In 1975, Dimensions began supporting people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs out of institutions, helping them lead ordinary lives in their local communities.

Forty years on, our work is fundamentally unchanged: we support people with learning disabilities and autism to have a louder voice, choice and control in their lives. Our 7000 colleagues deliver ambitious, effective, personalised support often with those whose previous support has not been successful.

Working alongside our colleagues are family members and many of the people we support. They could be quality checkers, interviewers or members of our Council. Their voices and experiences inform the research we use to deliver improved outcomes. Together, we continue to prove that life really can get better.

Awards

UK's Best Workplaces 2019 - Super Large (1,000+ employees)

Rank 17

What employees say

“The feeling that I get from support work is just so different to what I got from retail in 10 years… you need to have patience. You need to care, to help people accomplish things. People underestimate people with severe learning disabilities. Until you work closely with them, you can’t understand how rewarding it can be, and how much happiness they can give you. For me, that feeling is just unbeatable.”

Sammy Boswell

Support Worker

77 %

I am offered training or development to further myself professionally.

86 %

My work has special meaning: this is not "just a job".

93 %

People here are treated fairly regardless of their sexual orientation.

83 %

I feel good about the ways we contribute to the community.

85 %

I feel I make a difference here.

79 %

I can be myself around here.

What defines us

No corporate gubbins. Here’s what our colleagues say:

“I feel tremendously valued by the people I support and I can tell by their smiles, when they see me, that I’ve made them feel fulfilled.” Gemma, support worker

“I feel as though Dimensions has put its faith in me.” Mark, Locality Manager and Makaton trainer

“Someone I supported was diagnosed with a terminal illness and we were told she’d have to go to a hospice or stay with us. We knew she wouldn’t cope in a hospice and, as a team, we kept her in her home. She was happy right until the end… Everybody looked out for each other.” Anne, support worker

“Anyone can be a support worker, but to be a good support worker you need to have a kind and caring nature, and also be resilient. It can be hard, but you have a support network and you can ask for help.” Ailish, Support Worker

I love my job. I love working with the people I support. I love how they develop within themselves and how they can come to us with very few skills and within two years they’re cooking a roast dinner for their family and they’re part of great big things in the community. All because we’ve supported them to do that.” Lorna, Support Worker

What inspires us

Over 50 people we support are now also paid to be ‘experts by experience’ – getting involved in everything from quality checking our services to supported interviewing and induction training for all our employees.

The network is expanding all the time – more people we support are being trained to do the role, and in a development we believe is unique in the sector, parallel networks of family experts and tenants are being piloted. Well over 60 people we support, family members and tenants now act as Dimensions experts by experience.

Tracey Garcia, Head of Dimensions Quality Consultant Network reflects: “We were interviewing for a new Director last year, but the quality consultant who was part of the interview panel didn’t feel the leading candidate had quite the right attitude.

“The CEO crossed that individual’s name out then and there – even though it meant we couldn’t appoint to the role. It brought home to me just how culturally focused Dimensions is on being led by the people we support.”

At a glance

Age of employees

Gender ratio

Fulltime / Parttime

Action highlights

Aspire, our career development programme, was developed as a direct result of listening to colleague feedback that development opportunities were limited within Dimensions. We worked with employees across the organisation to develop a scheme which best met colleagues’ wishes. It resulted in a personalised programme where participants work with a professional career coach to achieve personal outcomes, with virtually unlimited potential for progression and development. The positive effects of our programme seem endless; participants reporting increased motivation, financial gains through savings on recruitment costs due to improved retention, to winning prestigious external awards, and tangible outcomes for people we support.

Word from the top

“To be a great support worker you need to treat people as an individual, as a human being. You see the person, not the disability. You ask people what they want to do and you let them work out what their answer is. It’s about listening without knowing what the answer is. It’s about respecting a person as an individual, about enabling them to have that choice and control.”

Steve Scown

Chief Executive

Career and jobs

Application tips

Work with us and you’ll have a really rewarding role working with a great team of people for a leading support provider. Our colleagues tell us that it’s the chance to make a positive difference to people’s lives that inspires them. Maybe that’s why Dimensions colleagues are more than twice as likely to choose to stay at Dimensions, compared to staff in other social care organisations.

Our great workplace

Join our team of 5,000 colleagues and you can benefit from:

• going to work every day knowing you make a difference

• access to qualifications, training and award winning career development opportunities

• flexible working hours and generous holiday entitlement

• pay that is regularly benchmarked against local market rates

• our wide range of staff benefits.

As a member of our operations team you will be responsible for supporting people with learning disabilities and autism to have a great life. You won’t just care for them; you’ll support them to achieve their goals, and that can bring enormous job satisfaction.

The people we support and the people who work with us are at the heart of everything we do. To recruit Support Workers we use a values led recruitment process. This means we’re looking at who you are rather than what you bring. We want to make sure you connect with, and have similar interests to, the person you might support.

We encourage the people we support to find meaningful work opportunities. And, every year, we are employing more people with learning disabilities and autism across the organisation in a variety of jobs. Their vital roles help make sure we’re being the best we can be for the people we support.

Contact

Tania Jesney

Resourcing Manager

Tel: 0300 303 9019
Email: tania.jesney@dimensions-uk.org