This document discusses Wollongong City Council's progress towards becoming an employer of choice. It provides perspectives from various council employees on work-life balance, what makes the council a good place to work, challenges, and what is needed to continue improving. Council employees represent a wide range of roles and backgrounds, from engineers and scientists to managers, tradespeople, and community services advocates. While there is still progress to be made, the council values a flexible and supportive work culture that allows employees to have fulfilling personal and professional lives.

1. Are We There
Yet?
How Wollongong City Council is Progressing
Towards being an Employee of Choice
Rosemary Crowhurst
Lisa-Marie Walsh

2. A little bit about us...
Over 40 engineers and 10 scientists
Serve a community of over 200,000 people
Wollongong City Council represents the 3rd
largest population in NSW
Covering an area of 714km2
Wollongong is the 9th largest city in Australia.

3. Work Life Balance?
It is not a destination, it is a state of mind
“You can see the mountain in the distance, it’s
a journey with a big hill you have to climb”
Mother of two, carer of one parent, environmental scientist
“After you do the things you do, you go home
to do the things you need to do. I don’t have a
choice it’s just what I want to do.”
Elite athlete, horticulturalist

4. Work Life Balance?
“My definition of Work Life Balance is
being happy with the amount of time
and effort that I give to my work and
my life, because work is part of your
life.”
Married with one child, senior manager
There is no simple formula that will make it
happen for every individual all the time

5. Employee of Choice
“I have been in organisations where the
manager has said that I would like to do this
but I have been constrained by process, here we
have the processes and there are some good
managers that allow us to put them in place.”
Married, mother of one, senior manager
“I always prioritised life over work, I work to
live and don’t life to work. I chose employers
based on the ability to live my life, Wollongong
City Council has done that for me”
Father of three, engineer

6. Why Council?
Live close to work
I benefit from the outcome of my work
Flexible working hours
Challenge
Pay

7. Why Council?
“Local government you end up doing things
that you never thought you would do, you
become and expert out of necessity. That’s the
way local government works, if you actually
want to do something that needs to be done in
the end you need to do it yourself.”
Scientist, self made pest expert
“Members of the public notice what I do and
ask how I am, this makes a big difference to
know that you are appreciated. This is what
makes me happy and keeps me at council; I
can look back and see what I have achieved.
Newly married, enforcement officer

8. When it’s worked?
“I couldn’t have gone through what I did
elsewhere, people me around assisted. I was
offered the ability to get through it, there was
an understanding that baggage doesn’t inhibit
work ability - when we do something wrong
we need to not be reprimanded for it and
ask, ok so how do we fix it.”
Recent divorcee, project manager

9. When it’s worked?
“If it stays the same it’s just too boring and I
need to move onto something different. It’s all
about challenge, every 2 to 3 years I have had
a job change, and I have worked for the same
organisation for over 16 years.”
Mother, traveller, wife
“At the height of my illness I did not have work
life balance, I was in bad relationship, nothing
was in balance, I had bad self-esteem, was
putting myself down and put too much pressure
on self. Work was the stable. If I worked
anywhere else I would have lost my job.”
In recovery, horticulturalist

10. Everyone’s Different
“My day begins and ends with chaos, and in
between there is lots of talking and listening.”
Mother of three, strategic manager
“This job gives me time to deal with my family
life, I can relax and level my head from the
decisions I have made during the day.”
New dad, arborist

11. Inspiration
“The first thing that comes to mind is my
kids, but if I go deeper than that it’s
self-contentment, having balance, having a
challenge - if there’s nothing to challenge then
there is no motivation”
Civil engineer, change manager

12. Inspiration
“It’s amazing how enriched your life gets when
you have all of these people from different
backgrounds who all have an influence on what
you become.”
Business manager, team Leader
“My self-esteem and being a role model for my
family is what inspires me.”
Father of three, safety officer

13. It’s Not Constant
“Having a component of ‘you’ time means that
there is resilience and is good for having
healthy relationships with work and family. I
have structured my life to get a balance
between my wife and I, right now she is
studying as well as work so study has replaced
her ‘you' time but that is what she needs right
now.”
Part time, scientist

14. It’s Not Constant
“You have the ying’s and yang’s and you need
to make good use of the yang’s while they are
around, I have shit fights at home and shit
fights at work. When it was wrong it felt like
being a caged animal that was being poked, I
took the opportunity to move but some things
stay in the back of your mind even though you
grow out of it.”
Father of three, horticulturalist

15. It’s your choice!
“My greatest pressure is the expectation I put
on self - being a good leader, supporting
manager, parent/lover/partner, setting very
high expectations and trying to meet them.”
Senior manager, social planner, board member, father of three
“I work for the world’s most flexible boss and I
still didn’t have work life balance. I have the
balance now but it is chaos, you can’t have it
all and expect it to be easy, the work place has
helped make it easy but it is my choice.”
Kids just starting school, strategic planner

16. It’s your choice!
“I have given up my golf for now due to
financial and time pressures with kids at a
demanding age, in 5 years’ time I hope to be
able to get that back but right now it is OK to
have lost it for a good reason.”
Want to be golfer, technical officer
I’ve got to stop saying that I don’t have work
life balance because this is my life and I have
it, I need to make the most of what I have.

17. Who We Need
“We need professionals who want to make a
difference.”
David Farmer, General Manager
“We need fresh ideas; it takes people from
other places to bring ideas in. We need to
constantly look at things from a new
perspective so that we can continue to improve
our efficiency, safety and continue to innovate.
It can take just one person to inspire a whole
team.”
Leading hand

18. Who We Need
“More people who are flexible thinkers, risk
takers rather than risk adverse, particularly
within senior management - less males, the
gender inequity is insurmountable - how do
they ever see me as an equal.”
Senior manager, community services advocate

19. Are We There Yet
So are we there yet?
Not by a long way.
Should we give up?
Not by a long way.
Can we do it on our own?
NO