A Culture of Learning

“We do the right thing. For our citizens and our community. And for ourselves.”

Live well. Work well. Be safe. We highly value personal, organizational and community health, safety and wellbeing. And we recognize that as employees, we need to be well and safe to be effective and productive in our work and in our personal lives.

What are we doing already?
It's an important mission — keeping and recruiting the right people and taking good care of them. Over the past few years, staff has been doing good work to gradually expand programs and services meant to inspire and educate us about building and maintaining a healthy lifestyle on the job and at home. These programs currently include:

Employee Benefits
The benefits offered to City of Kitchener’s employees include dental, extended health care, life insurance, long-term disability, OMERS pension plan, sick leave, vacation and flex benefits.

Flexible hours of work
What’s important is getting the job done – not always when it’s done. The City of Kitchener offers alternatives to the traditional 9-5 workday in some areas.

Lunch and Learns on wellness topics
Variety of wellness topics covered in sessions held over the lunch hour.

Wellness Fair
A day-long event for all City staff featuring a wide range of community health and wellness exhibitors, held annually in the Rotunda at City Hall.

Employee Assistance Program
Free, confidential benefit enabling employees to seek various forms of counseling.

Joint health and safety committees
Five separate committees, representing groups of workers, who deal with health and safety issues.

Telework opportunities
Potential to work from home with access to your desktop and files.

Family Days
Employees can use up to 5 of their 18 sick days per year to care for an ailing family member.

Regulatory Compliance Management System
Ensures continuous monitoring and improvement in regards to regulatory compliance for vehicle and equipment operation and maintenance.