Working for Council

• Superannuation: ongoing employees receive 15.25 per cent employer superannuation, well above the statutory minimum. Salary sacrifice arrangements are also available. (Different rates apply to temporary and casual roles.)
• Guaranteed pay increases: annual pay increases are guaranteed under our Enterprise Agreement.

• Annual leave: four (4) weeks of paid annual leave each year (pro rata for part-time employees), plus leave loading. You can also take annual leave at half pay to stretch it further.
• Personal/carer's leave: ten (10) days of paid personal leave each year (pro rata for part-time employees) for when you are unwell or caring for a family or household member. New employees receive their full 10 days upfront when they start, rather than waiting for it to accrue.
• Wellness leave: two (2) days of paid Wellness Leave each year (pro rata for part-time employees), on top of your personal leave, to look after your health and wellbeing.
• Long service leave: 345.8 hours (45.5 days) of long service leave after seven years of continuous service. Part-time and casual employees accrue long service leave on a pro rata basis. Continuous service with other Tasmanian councils counts, so your service can travel with you.
• Paid parental leave: fourteen (14) weeks of paid parental leave at full pay (or 28 weeks at half pay) for the primary carer, and two weeks of paid leave for the secondary carer, for birth or adoption, after 12 months of service. Combined paid and unpaid parental leave can total up to 52 weeks, with the option to extend.
• Purchased leave (48/52 or 50/52): buy an extra two (2) or four (4) weeks of leave each year through our 48/52 and 50/52 schemes, with the cost spread evenly across your fortnightly pay. A practical way to cover school holidays, travel or family commitments.
• Compassionate leave: up to five (5) days of paid compassionate leave on each occasion, above the national minimum of two (2) days, when a member of your immediate family or household is seriously ill or passes away. This includes specific recognition of miscarriage.
• IVF leave: paid leave for employees undergoing IVF or other assisted reproductive treatment, with leave also available if your partner is undergoing treatment.
• End of year close down: where a close down is declared over the end-of-year period, up to three additional days of paid leave that are not deducted from any other leave balance.
• Examination and conference leave: paid time off to attend work-related examinations or conferences, approved by your leader.
• Community Service Day: after 12 months of service, one paid day each year (pro rata for part-time employees) to volunteer with a registered charity in the Launceston municipality. A chance to give back to the community you serve.
• Paid special leave: up to five (5) days of special leave per occurrence (up to 10 days over four years) for emergency repairs at home after storm, fire or flood, for representing your state or country in sporting or cultural events, or for other significant circumstances approved by an Executive Leader.
• Family and domestic violence leave: fifteen (15) days of paid family and domestic violence leave per 12-month period, available in full from the start of each period, including for part-time and casual employees. A further ten (10) days of unpaid leave is available if paid leave is exhausted. Requests are handled sensitively and confidentially.
• Emergency services volunteers' leave: if you volunteer with the Tasmania Fire Service, Ambulance Tasmania, the SES or an allied emergency response organisation, you will be paid as normal when responding to emergencies during work hours, with no impact on your leave accruals.
• Gender affirmation support: gender affirmation leave and a supportive workplace policy for employees affirming their gender.

We are committed to providing a working environment that is sufficiently flexible to meet the operational requirement and workload demands of the City of Launceston while accommodating, where possible, the needs of our employees. We acknowledge the importance of employees maintaining a work-life-balance and can work with employees to organise their working arrangements in a more flexible way, subject to the employer's operational needs.

• Compressed working week: eligible full-time employees can compress their hours into a four-day week or a nine-day fortnight, by agreement with their leader and subject to operational requirements. This arrangement is designed to support genuine work-life balance.
• Working from home: flexible arrangements to work from home can be agreed with your leader, whether ad hoc, temporary or ongoing. Requests will not be unreasonably refused, and if a request cannot be accommodated you will receive the reasons in writing.
• Individual Flexibility Arrangements: you and your leader can agree to an Individual Flexibility Arrangement under our Enterprise Agreement to tailor your hours, pay arrangements or leave to genuine needs such as family responsibilities, study or lifestyle, provided you are better off overall. 

• Corporate health insurance: discounted health insurance options through our corporate partners.
• Corporate banking benefits: corporate banking benefits including discounted home loan rates and bonus term deposit interest. 

The Flare app provides access to a range of employee benefits and discounts, including everyday savings, health and wellbeing offers, and novated leasing opportunities.

Available through Flare Benefits:

• Novated Leasing
  With potential savings on income tax, GST, and the purchase price of a vehicle, you could save significantly. Find out more about Flare Novated Leasing to see how much you could save.

Important: Novated leasing is only available to permanent employees. We recommend obtaining independent financial advice before entering into a novated lease to ensure it suits your circumstances.

• Other Benefits Available Through Flare Benefits

Discounts on a wide range of everyday purchases, including groceries, fuel, technology, fashion, dining and more.  Explore tools and resources designed to help you understand available benefits and identify potential savings.

We are committed to ensuring our employees have access to the training and development they require to undertake their role, while also offering opportunities for career progression and professional and personal growth. This includes:

• Education assistance: we encourage employee development by providing monetary assistance for approved studies, which are of demonstrable value to both the City of Launceston and the employee.
• Our employee development program: we support our people to realise their full potential. Our leadership and employee capabilities and personal development discussions process supports us to bring the best out of people today, and every day into the future.
• New leader inductions: our new leader's induction provides an opportunity for new leaders to understand our approaches and initiatives, our plans and key policies to set them up for success in their role.
• Job rotation and transfers: we seek and support opportunities to multi-skill employees and provide experiences across different teams and working environments right across our organisation.
• Secondments: we provide opportunities for our employees to participate in a temporary transfer to another position. At the end of the secondment period, the incumbent returns to their substantive position.

We are committed to supporting the wellbeing of our people in many ways, including:

• Workplace mental health: we are committed to building and promoting a workplace that promotes and supports the mental health and well-being of all of our employees. We do this by reducing the stigma around depression, anxiety and suicide, by supporting employees with a mental health condition, regardless of the cause, and by facilitating and encouraging employees' access and active participation in a range of initiatives that support mental health and well-being. We have implemented a Mental Health Policy and Procedure, including opportunities for our leaders and our employees to participate in Mental Health First Aid training.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): free, confidential counselling and support for you and your immediate family, for both personal and work-related matters, available face to face or by phone at a time that suits.
• Fitness and recreation: access to Fitness Passport, giving you and your family discounted membership across a wide range of gyms, pools and fitness facilities.
• Discounted memberships: at Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre, including the LAFit gym.
• Vaccinations: free flu and COVID-19 vaccinations offered to all employees before winter.

We have been working on developing a constructive and positive workplace culture since 2018 and we use the Human Synergistics Circuplex to help us do this.

Positive and constructive "blue behaviours" align really closely with our values of we bring an open mind, we care about our community, our people matter and we go home safe and well. 

Our values drive our culture, the way we plan, our conversations and interactions, our decisions, the way we go about our work and the way we provide services to our community.

Our Cultural Roadmap captures initiatives that we are implementing to continue to build a positive and constructive culture.

We support our employees to actively engage in and enjoy opportunities to work with other employees across the organisation through our Values Champions, the Workplace Health and Safety Committee, the Joint Consultative Committee, and more!