About Kirklees

• We offer competitive rates of pay and excellent terms and conditions in line with the National Joint Council guidance.
• Opportunity to progress through salary levels
• Annual pay review

Flexible working at Kirklees Council

We offer a range of flexible working schemes across the council (subject to business needs) including:

• Mobile and Agile working
• Annualised hours
• Full time/part time opportunities
• Hot desking

Family friendly policies

We understand that a good work-life balance is important. To support our employees we have enhanced policies including:

• Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave
• Time off work
• Special and Family related leave

Travel and parking discounts

• Annual MetroCard discount scheme for council employees
• 20% discounts on the cost of Annual MetroCard
• Interest-free payments via salary/wage deductions
• Spread payments throughout the year
• Unlimited travel on bus services throughout West Yorkshire
• Unlimited travel on train services within your chosen zone

Discounted daily parking is available if a quarterly or annual season ticket is purchased

Up to 32.5 days annual leave

• 1-5 Years' service 27.5 days annual leave
• 5 Years' service onwards 32.5 days annual leave
• In addition to the above also 8 bank holidays

Cycle to work scheme

• Deductions from your pay before tax
• Savings you up to 40% through reduced national insurance and tax
• Receive a voucher for a bicycle and equipment up to the value of £1500 to be exchanged at cycle shops across the country

Credit Union Scheme

A responsible lending scheme that provides loans that help to keep you in control of your finances.

Corporate gym membership

• As a Kirklees Employee you are entitled to the corporate rate at all Kirklees Active Leisure Gyms
• As a KAL member you can access ten KAL centres including the gym, pool and fitness classes.

Local Government Pension Scheme

Kirklees Council employees are automatically enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), one of the few remaining defined-benefit pension schemes in the UK. There are many benefits to the LGPS, which include:

• On average Kirklees Council pays over twice as much as staff towards each pension;
• You get tax relief on all your contributions;
• You can take a tax-free lump sum payment on retirement;
• Each year you will build up a pension bases on your pay and inflation increases will be added to ensure that your pension keeps up;
• Protection should you have to retire due to ill health;
• Life cover of 3 years your pay from the first day you joined the scheme;
• Dependant's benefits payable if you die, so your pension does not die with you;
• There are no hidden fees you simply pay a percentage of your salary.

Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC's)

• Build up a separate pot of money alongside your Local Government Pension to give you extra retirement benefits
• Benefit from additional tax savings
• Option to pay as one lump sum or on a regular basis

Employee Healthcare is the in-house occupational health and wellbeing department providing a range of services to employees and managers. As part of the council's wellbeing commitment to employees we want to actively encourage you to take responsibility for your own health and wellbeing and offer you support to help you stay healthy, prevent illness and cope with difficult and challenging times.

• Self referral system
• Online health assessments
• Nutrition, exercise and fitness advice and resources
• Employee Assistance Programme - Care First
• Free and confidential counselling services
• Physiotherapy
• Smoking cessation
• Weight management
• VDU voucher scheme (subject to availability)
• Annual flu vaccination programme

Volunteering scheme

• Opportunity to take part in volunteering activities of your choice
• 2 days paid time off per year to enable employees to take part

Where a career with Kirklees Council can take you

Kirklees Council is a large employer, we are able to offer a wide variety of career pathways for our employees. With more than 100 vacancies on average being advertised across our services and schools, there is a wealth of opportunity for career development progression. The variety of roles we offer can create many different pathways for your career.

We invest in you

We are committed to personal and professional development of our staff. We offer a wide range of high quality learning and development opportunities that challenge and stimulate you as a learner. We have an extensive development fund linked to the Apprenticeship Levy and can offer Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for our employees to grow and thrive.

We offer a blended approach to training through online packages, webinars, job shadowing, coaching and mentoring.

Coaching

Individual coaching is available to anyone employed by Kirklees. It is a personal and confidential discussion between the coach and coachee, where the coach acts as a facilitator supporting the coachee to find solutions to agreed goals. Here at Kirklees we have over 60 qualified internal coaches who have coached over 500 employees with some great results.

Online learning

Through our MiPod Xtra system, you'll be able to openly access, in your own time, a suite of resources and access MS Office at home.

High five staff awards

If a colleague does a great piece of work or goes the extra mile, you can show your appreciation with a High Five. They will have the chance to win a £25 shopping voucher!

As well as three High Five winners, one winning team will be chosen every month. The team will receive a team high five certificate and one £25 voucher. The team leader can decide whether to buy something for the whole team or donate the voucher to the most deserving team member.

Support and Activity Networks

The opportunity to become involved with a diverse range of networks which provide important networking and development opportunities including:

• Black, Minority and Ethnic network
• Young employee network
• LGBT network
• Disabled employees network
• Mental Health Champions
• Wellbeing User Groups
• Walking Groups
• Activity networking groups to keep both our minds and body in check

Communication is key at Kirklees Council and we offer the best in modern technology to enable you to do your job well. Most of our buildings have Wi-Fi for quick and easy connectivity, we constantly review our intranet pages too to ensure the whole team is kept in the loop. If you are joining our dispersed workforce and do not have access to IT facilities as part of your role you'll receive a regular newsletter to ensure you are up-to-date with what's happening across Kirklees.

The Chief Executive and Senior Leaders keep staff updated through regular blogs and videos on key topics and we have forums on our intranet for sharing messages across the council and always welcome feedback on how things can be improved.