Welcome to Optalis, we think you’ll like it here.
Our team of over 800 make a difference to nearly 5,000 customers across Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and beyond.
What’s the key to our success?
We firmly believe that clear values and a cohesive strategy win the day. Our values - customer service, respect, transparency & integrity, communication, continuous development, enjoyable and rewarding - were co-produced with our colleagues and our customers, as was our strategy. Put simply, we focus on the important stuff - our customers, our colleagues and our communities.
Where could you fit in?
With our service provision being both unique and extensive, there are plenty of opportunities available at all levels, whether you want a steady job in friendly surroundings or to progress and experience different social care settings. From Administrators and Support Workers to Employment Coaches and Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and Reablement Assistants – Optalis is quite simply a great place to work. Read inspiring stories from current staff.
What’s it like to work here? - Our Benefits
We place a real emphasis on staff satisfaction and go the extra mile to create an environment that offers the opportunity for personal and professional growth.
We’re the only organisation of our kind in the UK to deliver the full range of care and support services to older people and adults with a disability, including all statutory and safeguarding functions. We are 100% Council owned, which means any financial surplus, generated through our operations, is returned to our Council shareholders, for further investment in local services.
Pension
We offer a pension scheme through Scottish Widows. Optalis will make a defined matched contribution of up to 6% on your behalf, alongside your own contribution. We offer salary sacrifice. Paying your pension contributions in this way means that the amount you pay into the pension scheme is deducted from your earnings before income tax and NI (National Insurance) contributions are calculated which generates a saving. This will increase your take-home pay, without reducing the total amount that is paid into your pension.
Training and Development
We will give you all the support you need, whether you are just starting out with us and need support to settle or are ready to take the next step in your career. Our range of training courses and learning and development opportunities will support you to succeed in your role. Helping you to demonstrate our values and focus on the things that truly matter to the people we support. Read more about our training and development.
We offer a range of apprenticeships, providing an exciting option for individuals that are seeking to develop and expand their knowledge and skills. We support apprentices at all different levels, from school leavers to employees that want to further their careers or change career direction completely. Read about our Hannah's experience as an Apprentice at Optalis
Health and Wellbeing
We offer several initiatives to support our employees mental, physical and financial wellbeing. These include access to an Employee Assistance Programme which gives free confidential legal and financial advice as well as free counselling services. We are a Mindful Employer and a Disability Confident Employer, which means we are serious about looking after our team members’ mental health and providing support to ensure that people with disabilities and long-term health conditions feel supported, engaged, and able to achieve their full potential in the workplace.
Flexible Working
We know that it can be challenging to balance all your work life commitments so we’ll will work with you to find a work pattern that suits both you and us.
Other great reasons to join
Starting with 25 days annual leave (pro rata’d), you get an extra day off for your birthday. Plus we offer all employees an extra paid day’s leave entitlement for a ‘Wellbeing Day’(pro-rata'd).
To recognise service, we add an additional day of leave for each year of service up to 5 years, giving a maximum basic entitlement of 30 days, plus bank holidays. (pro-rata'd)
We offer a fantastic rewards package through Perkbox that offers all kinds of shopping, health, travel and insurance discounts.
Through our staff consultative forum, staff reps can feedback your concerns or opinions directly to our CEO. We also recognise GMB and Unison Trade Unions.
We also run an annual staff satisfaction survey because we really care about what our employees think. The results inform our plans and priorities.
Once you join us, you’ll get a free uniform if you need one, a paid DBS check and a full induction and training programme. Where your role requires, we offer 5 days of CPD.
We also think you’ll like us so much, you’ll want to recommend us to your friends and family, just to speak to our HR team for more details.
Want to find out more?
We are always happy to hear from potential new colleagues. You can check out our current vacancies by viewing our roles. Or if you would like to get in touch directly, call our Resourcing Specialists on 0118 977 8600 or email alison.reeves@optalis.org.
It is a workplace I've looked forward to coming to, so to me it speaks volumes about the place and the people working here. The staff at Optalis are the best of people.
Thinking of switching careers?
Working in adult social care, you will make a real difference to people's lives every day. Not only does a career in care provide you with a rewarding and flexible role, but at Optalis we encourage our staff to work in a proactive way and to use their initiative. We equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to empower you to make decisions and take actions to improve the lives of the people we support.
Your experiences and interests could be used to help someone flourish. Experience working in customer-facing roles can provide you with the skills you need to support people. If you can communicate and respond to people’s interests, needs and wishes you can become a support worker and enjoy job stability. Care is one of the fastest-growing industries with more people needing support every day.
Flexible hours make support work a great opportunity for students or people with young families.
Our latest news
Unlocking Potential: The Optalis Learning and Development Team
In conversation with Ruth Walsh – Learning & Development Lead for Optalis, we delve into our progressive approach to training and development, exploring the current offer, and future aspirations
