Meet a Tenant: Educational Competencies Consortium Ltd

18 Oct Meet a Tenant: Educational Competencies Consortium Ltd

We recently sat down with Kiva, Business and Finance Manager at Educational Competencies Consortium (ECC) who are based out of The Brentano Suite in Whetstone. Kiva discussed the importance of working locally, and provide role analysis products, services and bespoke consultancy particularly around pay and grading. 

Can You Tell Us A Little Bit About ECC?

ECC offers HR expertise to more than 120 universities and colleges. We’re a small non-profit consortium with 8 employees founded in 1997, and are governed by a board of directors who mainly come from our membership organisations.  The consortium was formed specifically to develop and deliver effective job evaluation solutions within the education sector.  Our core product is a role evaluation methodology called ‘HERA’ and software called ECC Online.

Can You Tell Us What HERA Looks Like In More Detail?

Sure, HERA, stands for Higher Education Role Analysis. It’s a competency-based tool based around a questionnaire of 50 questions based on 14 comprehensive elements.  We train people how to use the methodology to score the job roles within their institutions. The idea is for our members to pay for work of equal value. It creates fair, transparent role evaluation to fit in with the members pay and grading structures. We’ve evolved it into a bespoke digital software to support our members.

What Do You Think Makes The Company Unique?

We’re totally unique in what we do as we’re tailored specifically for the Higher Education sector. Within the sector we work with various universities and colleges, such as the Russell Group universities, some very small colleges and a private school.

Is Your Full Team Based At The Brentano Suite?

I’m the only person here in the London office! Everybody else is home-based all over the country. For example, my boss is based in Dundee.

How Have You Found Working At The Brentano Suite?

The staff are just so helpful if you need anything at all. We’ve got the meeting room downstairs which is very useful. It’s great for me because I can talk to other tenants in offices around me. It’s a little community as such, even though our roles and businesses are totally different things!

“The Brentano Suite really works for me. I haven’t had any problems; the staff are very accommodating, and the people make it feel like a little community within itself.”

Is Having a Serviced Office Local To You Important?

Yes, I’m only a 10-minute walk away so it’s been brilliant! For me it’s great because I don’t have to get the tube and I can run home at lunchtime if I need to, so the whole setup is just perfect.

Also being in a serviced office means I don’t have to worry about telephones and utilities because that’s all part of the package.

Seems Like The Perfect Fit! What Have You Got Planned In The Near Future At ECC?

We’re constantly developing new services for our members. One of the big issues now within the sector is the cost-of-living crisis. We’re developing a tool to restructure pay scales at universities because the lower end of pay scales aren’t fit for purpose anymore.

I’m also scaling the team, looking to recruit a new support staff member to work alongside me at The Brentano Suite.

 To find out more about ECC, head to their website here.

Here at The Brentano Suite, we offer serviced office suites for companies across Northwest London and Hertfordshire, including meeting room hire, mail handling, and more. Have a look at our video tour to see inside our offices.