What we offer you

Life needs balance. That's something we intrinsically understand. So if you're wondering how we can help you balance work commitments with life and social commitments, spend some time reading what we have to say here.

NatureScot offers some great benefits to reward and support you whilst you are working for us.

Our benefits, ranging from salary scales with performance related progression steps, civil service pension scheme, a generous holiday leave allowance plus flexi time and employee discount scheme.

Pay and Reward

We offer a competitive salary scales and are a Scottish living wage employer. Our salaries are also reviewed annually in line with Scottish Government pay policy.

Pension

We offer a choice of an occupational career average salary pension or a partnership pension through the civil service pension provider MyCSP.

Depending on your choice of pension, your spouse or partner may be entitled to up to three times your pensionable salary in the event of your death. So if the worst happens, you and your family don't have to worry about financial security for the future.

Holiday

We offer our employees 30 days' holiday leave annually, plus 11.5 public and privilege holidays. 5 of the public and privilege holidays are fixed days these are St Andrews Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and 2nd January.

Our holiday year is from 1st April to 31st March.

Flexi-time

We offer our employees flexible working in agreement with your manager, where you can agree a flexible work pattern which enables you and your manager to agree a working pattern to balance the needs of the organisation with the demands of your lives outside work.

There is still a requirement for you to work your contracted hours however; you may have the opportunity to vary your starting and finishing times. 

Volunteering days

NatureScot is committed to the achievement of the Healthy Working Lives award. This award links to our work on health promotion, flexible working, providing a safe place to work, attendance management, supporting mental well-being of our staff whilst caring for the environment and promoting social responsibility.

To aide our achievement of this award we have introduced a paid Volunteering day for all employees to allow staff to participate in a volunteering activity or knowledge exchange day which benefits both NatureScot and you.

Occupational Maternity, Adoption, Paternity pay

We offer support when you need it most (based on reckonable service) –

• Nine months' paid maternity/adoption  leave – 27 weeks full  occupational maternity pay plus 12 weeks statutory maternity pay, with 13 weeks unpaid leave
• 8 weeks' paid paternity leave,
• 13 weeks' parental leave.
• We're also flexible over special leave, whether you're caring for dependents, volunteering, need time off for jury duty, or bereavement, or want to take personal development break. – Please note these change with legislative changes.

Occupational Sick Pay

We offer a generous occupational sick pay 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay.

Salary Sacrifice Schemes

Cycle to work

You could save up to 42% of the retail cost of a bike (dependent on your individual tax bracket), the cost of your bike is deducted monthly from your salary prior to any PAYE or NI deductions.

Our cycle to work scheme is run by Cycle scheme ltd.

Employee discount scheme

NatureScot operates an Employee Discount Scheme (EDS) which enables NatureScot to give employees access to a range of online and offline products and services at a discounted price.  The main aims of the scheme are to:

• Enable employees to make a range of savings on a range of everyday and specialist products and services on a securely dedicated website;
• Centralise and formalise the procedure for implementing employee discounts; and
• Establish a means of managing discounts across locations thus ensuring consistency and fairness across NatureScot. 

Support

Learning and development

Your development is important to all of us in NatureScot.  When you start working for us, you will complete on-boarding programme, required by all new employees.

Your line manager will support you by having regular meetings to monitor your progress both in your probationary period and beyond. They will help you to identify learning and development, supporting you to learn and grow in your job.

NatureScot provides comprehensive learning which supports all of us to do our work. It also provides support and assistance toward course fees for qualifications which relate to your work or for future opportunities.

Flexible working

Many of the benefits we offer go beyond our legal obligation as an employer. We want to help you balance things - so we've built a range of flexible working options, including job sharing, part time hours, flexi time, homeworking.

Wellbeing - Employee assistance programme

We offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). This benefit is available to all employees by telephone through a helpline, as well as an online, service. Employees can call the EAP from home or abroad 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for access to telephone counselling.

The service provides employees with telephone, online and face-to-face counselling (if required). The service also provides employees with a wide range of more specialist information on a number of topics, including:

• Financial advice
• Debt counselling
• Health & Wellbeing
• Care for dependants
• Sign posting and support

Season Ticket loans

We offer interest free loans to purchase public transport season tickets which are then recovered monthly from your salary.

Professional Subscriptions

NatureScot recognises that it is important for some roles to maintain membership of professional associations and industry bodies, which supports the aims and objectives of the organisation.

In funding individual subscriptions, NatureScot will ensure that memberships maintain relevance to your current role.

Essential for the role NatureScot will reimburse 100% of the subscription fees.  Desirable for the role NatureScot will reimburse 50% of the subscription fees.