Life at International Headquarters
Culture and Values
Our mission at International Headquarters (IHQ) is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination. IHQ supports the work of The Salvation Army in 134 countries with this mission in mind and all the work we undertake at IHQ contributes to this. All departments have a global reach and as such, there is a great deal of diversity within the office environment and beyond.
Travel is an everyday occurrence at IHQ, with many roles demanding frequent overseas travel – this makes for a fluid and dynamic office environment, where no two days could truly be considered the same. We provide a challenging yet incredibly supportive environment in which employee’s flourish and can see how impactful their work is. Respect is paramount at IHQ and we recognise the part that each of us has to play in working towards our mission.
A traditional and historical organisation with fascinating origins and developments, we are also forward thinking and modern in the way we operate at IHQ. Due to our global work, we are a digital, tech-savvy organisation and embrace updates to our working life in order to better support the people who need our help most.
There exists a distinctive family aspect at IHQ which is central to our culture – we meet together as a family as often as we can, and again utilise the latest technology to help embrace our global family too. Openness and willingness to participate is central to the employee life at IHQ which can be achieved via occasions such as The General’s Forum, departmental meetings and The Employee Council. IHQ leadership values employees’ feedback and input and will endeavour to do all it can to continuously improve the employee experience.
What do we do?
IHQ oversees, coordinates and supports the work of all 134 countries globally with activities ranging from our IT team who support the global IT infrastructure to our finance team who support local territories to understand and submit budgets and expenditure, using this to forecast future spends and ways we can widen our financial support.
IHQ also coordinates a large number of global projects, from planned community development projects to emergency responses to crises all over the world. For example, IHQ supports the work of more than 2,000 schools run by local Salvation Army territories, helping children to gain quality education provision regardless of their background. Additionally, a great deal of work is being undertaken around the topic of sexuality and relationships around the world via Faith-Based Facilitation which encourages conversations around a variety of topics including divorce, remarriage and partner abuse. The Salvation Army is not afraid to delve into tough topics using a sensitive and faith-based method.
Ultimately, all employees at IHQ can identify how their work contributes to our overall mission and to the work of The Salvation Army across the world.
Reward Package and Benefits
IHQ is committed to rewarding our employees fairly and commensurate to their performance in post and remain a competitive employer in the not-for-profit sector. Benefits include:
- All staff in receipt of at least the London Living Wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation
- Travel to work allowance of up to £3,600 per annum (yes, you read that right – we help with the travel costs to attend the workplace. We recognise working in London can attract significant additional expenditure for employees, so we do what we can to help with this)
- Discounted café food and drink for those at Queen Victoria Street and a food allowance for those based at Faith House
- Employee Assistance Programme which offers a huge variety of resources to help support the well-being of employees and their immediate family including free counselling sessions
- 25 days annual leave plus eight bank holidays
- Four days special leave per annum which can be used for a range of reasons including attending medical appointments or moving house
- Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave pay policies
- Generous pension scheme
- Access to monthly massage therapy appointments
- Department team building/away days
- Weekly department and whole building prayer meetings
- Monthly departmental coffee mornings
- Flexible working opportunities available after successful completion of probation period