Leadership Pathway

We are committed to supporting and developing our people in every role and have leadership programmes at all levels.

Management & Leadership Development

We are committed to developing our people and the skills of our workforce. You will have excellent learning and development opportunities to ensure competence in role. As an ILM Centre we are able to offer specialist qualifications in leadership and management.

Coaching

We use a range of interventions to meet identified learning and development needs. One to one coaching can be considered alongside training courses, on the job training and supervision.

Continued Professional Development

You will have the opportunity to attend training sessions and seminars throughout your career with us.

Everyone works hard and deserves a break.

That’s why we offer annual leave that increases with the years you work with us, as well as Public Holidays.

Maternity Leave

After completing 1 years service you can access our enhanced maternity leave package.

If you don’t qualify for the enhanced maternity leave you can still access the statuary maternity pay after completing 26 weeks.

Paternity Leave

We also offer Statutory Paternity Pay for up to 2 weeks for employees who have 26 weeks continuous service.

Shared Parental Leave

To give you more flexibility in considering how to best care for, and bond with, your child we have a Shared Parental Leave.

Adoption Leave

You will be entitled to up to 26 weeks ordinary adoption leave followed by up to 26 weeks additional adoption leave.

Maternity Support Leave

If you are nominated by an expectant mother as her carer around the time of the birth, you may be entitled to apply for Maternity Support Leave.

Antenatal Appointments

If you qualify, you could have access to unpaid time off to accompany mothers to antenatal appointments. This is for a maximum of 2 appointments of up to 6.5 hours each.

Special Leave

We will respond your individual circumstances supportively and sensitively through the use of Special Leave.

We want you to be healthy and happy at work so you can thrive and preform.

Our Occupational Health team have a holistic and integrated approach to promote and maintain your health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Gym Access

All our sites have gyms that can be accessed by our people throughout the day.

Sports Leave

We support our people who are taking part in NIFRS Sports Teams affiliated with FRSAA.

Inspire Workplaces

You will have 24/7/365 access to Inspire Workplaces, a leading provider of workplace wellbeing solutions across the UK and Ireland.

Stress Policy

We are committed to protecting the health, safety and welfare of our people. Our stress policy helps us to reduce and control workplace stress. We also have a phased return to work that supports this.

Mental Health at Work Commitment

We are committed to improving and supporting the mental health of our people and have signed up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment.

Strike a balance

We have a range of flexible working arrangements to help you achieve a balance between work and home life.

Options you can explore include;

• Job Sharing
• Part-Time working
• Voluntary reduced hours
• Compressed hours
• Summer Term Time Working
• Personalised hours
• Phased Return to work after maternity leave and sick leave
• Flexi-time.

Career Break

You can apply for a career break for many reasons.

For everything else

We recognise that you will often have to balance work and life commitments. We have various forms of leave to help you strike a balance.

Equal Opportunities Employer

We seek fairness, equality and diversity and continually review our structures to make sure they are fit for purpose.

We have career opportunities in both operational and support roles that come with many benefits.

Investors in People

We are accredited through Investors in People with developed status. They are an international standard for people management.

Inclusive working environment

We continue to develop to maximise the potential of our people and provide equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment.

Our values, Integrity, Respect, Improvement and Community are at the core of what we do. As an equal opportunities employer, we seek fairness, equality and diversity across our organisation. This is fundamental to the way in which our Fire & Rescue Service is structured and delivered.

We aim to create an inclusive working environment to maximise the potential of our people. To provide equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and avoid unlawful discrimination.

Our Equality Team work hard to meet equality commitments, including the Statutory Duties set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998. You can view how we tackle this in the following;

• NIFRS Equality Scheme
• Our Disability Action Plan 2016-2021
• Our Reasonable Adjustment Policy

 SECTION 75

Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (the Act) places a statutory duty on public authorities, such as NIFRS, to mainstream equality in all its functions. The Act provides that each public body is required, in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland, to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between:-

• persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status and sexual orientation;
• between men and women generally;
• persons with a disability and persons without; and
• persons with dependants and persons without

Without prejudice to these obligations each public body in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland must also have regard to the desirability of promoting Good Relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.

Our Equality Scheme

Schedule 9 of the Section 75 Act requires all public authorities designated under the Act to set out in an Equality Scheme how it proposes to fulfil the duties imposed. These are approved by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and sets out the arrangements for;

• assessing its compliance with the duties under Section 75;
• assessing and consulting on the likely impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity;
• monitoring any adverse impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity;
• publishing the results of such assessments;
• training staff;
• ensuring and assessing public access to information and services provided by the public body.

Disability Action Plan 2016-2021

The UK Fire Service is modernising rapidly and is responding to the equality agenda. A key part of this response is equality for disabled job applicants and for employees who are or have become disabled during the course of employment.

Our Reasonable Adjustment Policy

NIFRS is obligated to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA) and therefore has a Reasonable Adjustment Policy in place to consider making reasonable adjustments for applicants and existing employees with a disability, impairment or health condition which has impact on their ability to carry out their role.

Promoting firefighting as a career for women and other groups, remains a priority.

We support an inclusive workforce and actively encourage women in achieving their full potential. We value women at all levels within our organisation in a variety of roles, including Firefighter.

We achieve this through;

• Working towards a balanced workforce in relation to the equality dimensions
• Raising the profile of firefighting as an attractive and challenging career choice for women
• Creating and sustaining a working environment that enables women to undertake their role
• Providing mechanisms to assist all employees maintain work-life balance and a fulfilling career
• Specific outreach measures are taken throughout the year to raise gender awareness.

We are pleased to support Networking Women in the Fire Service and Women In Business. This helps influence the equality agenda and makes NIFRS a place where women and men can work together harmoniously and professionally.

The best way we can invest in you is to make sure you have the right skills to do your job safely.

Our courageous Firefighters take a risk every time they go out the door. We make sure they are as highly trained as possible to be skilled and equipped to deal with the challenges they face.

Planning Ahead

NIFRS will contribute to your pension throughout your whole career with us so you can still benefit after you retire.

If you retire after 20 years service you will receive a certificate from the Chief Fire & Rescue Officer. It will be presented in person by the Chief or Assistant Chief Fire & Rescue Officer.

Engaging, empowering and recognising our people is so important to us.

Engagement Survey

We run a survey every 2 years so our people can have their say and reflect on all aspects of working life. The results allow us to make improvements in our effort to be a great place to work for all.

Annual Awards & Achievements

We will acknowledge your individual and team successes through our annual awards ceremony, employee engagement sessions, Ebulletins, social media, Intranet and right here.

The amazing contribution made by our people is recognised in a wide variety of achievements and awards. Check some of them out in the gallery below.