A Culture of Learning

“We seek the best people and promote continued development. We encourage and mentor one another to reach our full potential.”

Growing staff isn’t just about ensuring that we have the skills that we need to do our jobs effectively. That’s just one piece of the equation. We also grow staff because it is our job to position our city for the future. We have a civic responsibility to take personal and professional development, and creating opportunities for career advancement, very seriously.

Each day, 213,000 citizens count on us to do our jobs, and to do them well. We need to continue to grow, develop and advance in our careers because the skills and experience we each bring to the job is critical to how well we are able to build our community; how well we serve our community, and how well we protect our citizens.

What are we doing already?
The city offers a wide and continuously growing range of personal and professional development opportunities to staff including:

Training, Education and Development (TED) programs
If you succeed, we succeed. So it’s not surprising that we highly value personal development and we support it with a wide range of learning opportunities.

Orientation and Mentoring Programs
We connect staff who want to learn new skills with other staff who can teach them – and we assist new employees in learning about the corporation, key departments, initiatives and programs for staff.

Succession Planning Program
Employees identified for potential succession in management roles receive additional training and mentoring.

Health and Safety Programs
Kitchener highly values personal, organizational and community health, safety and wellbeing. We do all that we can to ensure the wellbeing of our employees so you’re at your best on the job – and at home.

Opportunities for Advancement
We want to ensure that the right people are available for the right jobs in the rights places and the right times.  Through succession planning and career path planning, employees can continually develop their careers.

Apprenticeship Programs
Helping staff to develop skills to earn certification in a skilled trade.

Secondment positions
Opportunities for employees to put skills to work in areas outside of our own.

Self-funded leaves of absence
Enables employees to fund up to a year off to study, travel, try something new.

Management and Leadership Training Programs
Training opportunities about key competencies for managing and leading.

Tuition Assistance Program
Potential financial reimbursement for approved courses toward a degree.

IT Training
Computer training on everything from Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel, to how to manage your inbox.

Global Partnerships
Opportunities for staff with specific expertise to make a difference in developing nations.