Working at Council

We have more than 1100 staff who provide quality services and facilities to the Wollongong community.

Around half of our workforce is based at our administration building in the CBD. We also have work sites spread across the city, including at depots, libraries, community centres, pools and beaches.

Wollongong is a great place to work and live. Find out more on our About Wollongong pages.

All of the work we do contributes to our Community Strategic Plan and our purpose: To create an extraordinary Wollongong.

We also have a set of staff values to guide us in working towards our goals:

Integrity: honest and reliable
Respect: inclusive and considerate
Sustainable: use our community's resources responsibly
One team: together we deliver excellent service
Courage: challenge the norm to be better.

At Wollongong City Council, we are committed to creating a place where diversity is valued, people are included and feel they belong.

Our Diversity Inclusion and Belonging Policy PDF, 737.54 KB outlines our Statement of Commitment:

Our strength is the diversity of our people.

Together our responsibility is to create an inclusive place where everyone is welcome, valued and belongs.

We lead with courage, openness and curiosity.

Our conversations and actions celebrate diversity, inclusion and belonging.

We are striving to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of our community; provide an inclusive and culturally safe work environment for everyone; and be an employer of choice.

Everyone is welcome at Council. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; people with disability; LGBTQIA+ communities; people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; and veterans.

We’re committed to providing an accessible and inclusive candidate experience. If you need an adjustment throughout the recruitment process or you would like to discuss any accessibility requirements, please call the Talent Acquisition Team for a confidential conversation on (02) 4227 7070 or email council_recruitment@wollongong.nsw.gov.au.

We've partnered with the NSW Veterans Employment Program to support veterans finding suitable, sustainable and meaningful employment.

We're also proud members of Diversity Council of Australia and Australian Disability Network.

Action Plans

We’ve also developed several plans and policies that align with our Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Policy and help us achieve our goals:

Our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) PDF, 15556.97 KB seeks to build an inclusive place with a strong focus on reconciliation. This includes improving employment opportunities at Council and investing in the professional development of our staff.
Our Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) PDF, 14750.35 KB guides how we working to support people with disability to participate in the life of our city. This includes supporting access to meaningful employment.
We’re committed to being a Child Safe organisation and are embedding the NSW Child Safe Standards across our organisation's culture and practices. Visit our Child Safe Organisation page to learn more about our Child Safe Framework, reporting child protection concerns and other resources.
Our Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan sets out our commitment and actions towards a diverse, inclusive, and culturally safe working environment. We will achieve this by:
1. Attracting, recruiting, and retaining a diverse workforce
2. Empowering and enabling our people
3. Creating an environment where everyone belongs.

We believe our employees are the key to our success. Below are some of the benefits we offer.

Flexible working

We offer flexible employment conditions to support our staff balance work and life commitments. This includes:

Nine-day fortnight (RDO) for wages employees
Access to flex leave for salaried employees
Hybrid work arrangements
Compressed work week
Part time hours as a temporary work arrangement.

Paid Leave

Along with five weeks' annual leave per year (or pro rata), our employees may access other types of paid leave including:

Parental
Carers
Compassionate
Domestic or family violence
Long service leave after five (5) years.

If you’re currently working with another local council in NSW, you can transfer your long service leave with you.

Health and Wellbeing

Supporting our employees to be safe and well is important to us. Our Wellbeing strategy gives employees access to information and programs such as:

Fitness Passport
Annual flu vaccinations
Mental health initiatives
Centralised wellbeing hub
Other events and initiatives.

Council employees and their immediate family can also access free, confidential counselling for work or personal issues through our Employee Assistance Program.

We recognise social wellbeing is important too! We have a Social Club where employees can enjoy monthly activities including an annual trivia night and fantastic Christmas parties.

Career Development

We support employees to fulfil their potential by providing:

variety of training programs
leadership development programs
tertiary assistance scheme (financial assistance and study leave)
access to online learning
secondment and professional development opportunities.

More information

To learn more, please see our Enterprise Agreement PDF, 4933.57 KB.

We are committed to the work, health and safety of all our employees, contractors, volunteers and visitors to Wollongong City Council’s buildings and locations where work is being carried out.

Our Safety program is focused on everyone, everyday and everywhere.

We provide quality training, Personal Protection Equipment and have WHS committees representing staff across the organisation to ensure employees have a safe working environment.

For more details, you can read Our Safety Commitment PDF, 115.83 KB.