Benefits of working for us

Sunderland City Council offers all employees a range of benefits and opportunities:

Corporate and local induction 

We offer comprehensive corporate and local induction programmes to all new employees. We use a range of tools and learning methods to make sure you have everything you need to carry out your role from your very first day and understand our values and your place in our organisation.

Learning and development 

We want to encourage all staff to fulfil their potential, so your learning and development is important to us. We will work with you to help you meet your career goals, ensure you have the skills and knowledge to thrive in your role and support you to maintain professional qualifications.

You will have access to our on-line learning hub which records learning and provides a range of development opportunities. 

Appraisals and one-to-one meetings 

Our workforce is our greatest asset and as an employee you will be supported through regular one to one conversations and our annual appraisal scheme, which focus on performance and development needs.

Coaching 

To enable you to flourish and do the very best job for residents, you will have access to work-based coaching support which can help to boost performance and engagement by empowering our employees to thrive.

Family friendly 

We are committed to helping working parents to balance work and family life in a way that is both compatible with, and beneficial to, business efficiency. We recognise that getting the balance right can be key to ensuring our staff can perform well at work and feel engaged and valued.

We have a full range of family friendly policies including enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Paternity entitlements.

Travel

We understand the cost of travelling to work can be expensive, so we have a range of schemes and incentives for our employees.  

• Cycle to Work Scheme - save money on the cost of cycling to work using our cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme over 12 months
• Spread the cost - travel scheme - apply for a travel pass that covers bus, metro, train and ferry travel, and spread the cost over 12 months
• Public transport tickets for business use
• Car parking permit - colleagues working in City Hall for a minimum of three days a week are able to apply for a car parking permit, payable on a monthly basis
• Electric Cars and Bikes - 10 Nissan LEAF pool cars are available for business use

Car lease scheme 

Our employee car lease scheme provides a cost-effective way to lease a new car via salary sacrifice or net pay. No deposit is required, and the cost is fixed for the duration of the lease. 

Volunteering 

All employees are able to take three volunteering days per year within the Sunderland area.

Employee groups

We have a number of employee groups which are open for any employee to join if they are interested. These groups include Green Champions (helping the council to achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral), People Forum, Wellbeing Mentors, Domestic Abuse Champions, Tech-Mates (helping to support colleagues with IT), Supporting Employee Equality Network (SEEN), Ageing Well Ambassadors, and the Financial Wellbeing Community.