Funeral Service Operative - Casual Hours

Southern Co-op; Christchurch; On-site; GBP 18,000 - 26,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

20% colleague discount in retail shops

Health & dental cash plans

24/7 virtual GP & fitness discounts

Employee Assistance Programme

Life insurance & NEST pension

Financial wellbeing tools

Cycle-to-work & Electric Vehicle Sche,

Job summary

Southern Co-op is seeking a Funeral Service Operative to support the delivery of funerals from collection to viewing and transportation. The role is physically and emotionally demanding and requires a full UK driving licence and being over 25 for insurance purposes.

Shifts are casual, on-call and out of hours as part of an on-call rota, including evenings and weekends. DBS checks are required; travel to multiple sites may be involved as part of the role to support families and the deceased.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and listening skills.
• Demonstrated resilience and ability to work under pressure.
• High level of understanding, empathy and compassion.

Responsibilities

• Collect the deceased and bring them into our care, potentially involving challenging locations.
• Dress and prepare the deceased for viewing and place into the coffin or casket.
• Drive our vehicles and ensure vehicles are clean and well-maintained for each funeral.
• Act as a bearer and support our funeral care services.

Skills

Excellent communication

Resilience

Empathy

Full UK driving licence

Tools

Full UK driving licence

Job description

We’re offering an exciting opportunity to deliver the best end of life care, support, and experience to the deceased and their families at their time of need. As a Funeral Service Operative you’ll assist in the smooth delivery of funerals, from collection, transportation, and preparation of the deceased, through to driving our vehicles and acting as a conductor or bearer. This is a physically and emotionally demanding role.

You’ll need a full UK driving license (valid for both manual and automatic vehicles) and for insurance purposes you must be over 25.

Shifts will be worked on a casual basis, when the need arises. These will be worked Monday to Friday and you’ll be required to work on call and out of hours as part of our on call rota (evenings, weekends, overnight).

What you’ll get…

• 20% colleague discount in our retail shops
• Health & dental cash plans
• 24/7 virtual GP & fitness discounts via Aviva Digicare+ Workplace
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Life insurance & NEST pension
• Financial wellbeing tools
• Cycle-to-work & Electric Vehicle schemes
• Training & development opportunities

What to expect…

• Collecting the deceased and bringing them into our care. This may involve challenging locations and circumstances.
• Helping dress and prepare the deceased, including preparing for viewing and placing the deceased into the coffin or casket.
• Driving our vehicles and ensuring all are in a pristine condition for each funeral.
• Acting as a bearer.
• Supporting our local communities and acting as a trusted ambassador for our funeral care services.
• This role will involve manual handling.

What we’re looking for…

• Excellent communication & listening skills.
• Can demonstrate resilience and work under pressure.
• High level of understanding, empathy, and compassion.

Training…

• Previous experience within the funeral industry is not required as we’ll provide full training.
• Travel to other sites will be required.

About Us…

We’re an independent Co-op, operating across the south of England running convenience food stores, funeral homes, crematoria, natural/woodland burial grounds and a Starbucks coffee franchise. We’re owned by our 300,000+ members, have over 4,000 colleagues and a purpose of working together for the benefit of our communities. We have a commitment to sustainable business and a promise to provide a fair, fresh approach, for all. Become part of the family who are proud to serve local communities and put people first.

Successful candidates will undergo a DBS check as part of compliance requirements.