About Wollongong City Council
What is Wollongong City Council?
Wollongong City Council is the local government for the City of Wollongong on the NSW Illawarra coast. Council describes its work as delivering "33 essential services that support, connect and enhance our community" — from land use planning, development assessment and environmental services through to libraries, youth services, leisure centres, the Botanic Garden, cultural services and waste management. Its stated purpose is "to create an extraordinary Wollongong", guided by the Our Wollongong Our Future Community Strategic Plan 2035, and its own job adverts describe it as "a large and complex Council in a major city".
Where will I work?
Roles sit across the Wollongong local government area rather than in one building. Live vacancies are attached to named sites: the Administration Building in the city centre, whose levels house the Customer Service, Land Use Planning, Community Impact, Economic Development, Talent + Capability and Statutory Property teams, plus the Corrimal District Library and Community Centre, Beaton Park Leisure Centre, the Botanic Gardens, Russell Vale Golf Course, Windang Beach Tourist Park and the Northern Depot. Professional adverts list "hybrid work options" among the flexibility on offer.
What is the Wollongong City Council team like?
Five values guide how the team works: Integrity ("honest and reliable"), Respect ("inclusive and considerate"), Sustainable ("use our community's resources responsibly"), One team ("together we deliver excellent service") and Courage ("challenge the norm to be better"). Council says it has "created a workplace shaped by flexibility, collaboration and genuine support", and runs staff-led "peer collectives" alongside a Social Club with a dedicated space including table tennis and a pool table. Entry routes are unusually broad: cadetships, apprenticeships, traineeships, school-based programs and an Undergraduate Development Program all run alongside standard recruitment.
Work-Life Balance
The standard week is shorter than the Australian norm. Council's 2024-2027 Enterprise Agreement sets "the ordinary working hours of all employees" at "35 hours per week", and salaried adverts repeat it plainly: "This is a permanent full time 35 hour per week position" and "Enjoy a 35-hour work week." A nine-day fortnight also exists, but the Agreement scopes it narrowly — "Council operates a nine (9) day working period arrangement for its wages employees" — and it appears in outdoor and trades adverts ("a 9-day fortnight with a regular rostered day off"), not in the office-based professional ones. Salaried staff get flextime instead, and adverts promise "hybrid work options, flex-time, and rostered days off". The Agreement also grants a right to disconnect: "Employees (other than on-call employees) are not required to read or respond to work emails or phone calls outside their working hours."
Perks and Benefits
- Five weeks of annual leave per year (pro rata), plus long service leave after five years
- Up to 14 weeks paid maternity leave at ordinary pay (or 28 weeks at half pay), and up to nine weeks paid paternity leave
- Superannuation guarantee equivalent payments during paid parental leave
- Fitness Passport for staff and family, plus discounted gym memberships
- Employee Assistance Program with free confidential counselling for staff and their families, and trained mental health first aiders
- Skin and hearing checks through Council's wellbeing programs
- Corporate learning opportunities, study assistance and leadership development programs