Benefits of a career at USQ

Choosing a career at the University of Southern Queensland can provide employees with a wide variety of financial, lifestyle, career, workplace and community benefits and options.

Many of these benefits were formally recognised recently in the 2010 Best University to Work for in Australia competition where USQ was ranked number 3 in the top 10 Australian universities by our staff across important employee welfare areas such as organisational development, work hours, employee benefits, health and well being, training and development, health and safety, equity and overall management.

Financial benefits

• Competitive salary rates.
• Generous employer superannuation contributions of 17%.
• Flexible salary packaging options for superannuation and a range of other benefits.
• Discounts on home loan application fees, interest rates and many more for personal banking through USQ's alliance with Heritage Bank (PDF* 1.86MB) (refer to the Heritage Bank monthly offer (PDF 676kb) for current promotions).
• On campus visits from MECU Ltd to discuss personal banking options (PDF 169kb).
• On campus visits from ME Bank for UniSuper members.
• Financial assistance towards relocation expenses for new employees.
• Subsidised corporate workwear for eligible employees. 

Lifestyle benefits

• A range of work/life balance initiatives aimed at maintaining a healthy work/life balance including flexible employment arrangements and working hours. 
• Flexible leave arrangement provisions including: generous parental leave provisions for women and men,annual leave of 20 days paid leave per calendar year, plus 17.5% loading paid in a lump sum in December, sick leave of 10 working days each calendar year, and 13 weeks long service leave after completing 10 years (1.3 weeks for each year of continuous service).
• A healthy lifestyle program through the USQ Fit and Well program including corporate rates for gym memberships and a no-cost flu vaccination program.
• Corporate rates for private health cover through Bupa and Medibank Private (refer to the Medibank monthly offer (PDF100KB) and Bupa monthly offer (PDF844KB) for current promotions).
• Special rates for hotels, hire cars and travel insurance for leisure travel.
• Discounted personal travel insurance through AIG.
• Corporate rates for Qantas club membership.
• Staff discounts for performances through USQ Artsworx.
• A comprehensive range of services available from USQ Health Services including an on campus doctor and nurse at the Toowoomba campus, immunisations and travel vaccinations and advice on a range of health topics.
• Two employee assistance programs for USQ employees and their families providing professional advice, counselling and referral services to assist with personal problems that may be affecting health and/or job performance.
• Mirambeena Children's Centre (Toowoomba campus) for the provision of care to children of students, staff and members of the public.
• Faculty and department social clubs.

Career benefits

• A number of vacant positions advertised to USQ employees only to provide internal career opportunities within the University.
• A wide variety of reward, recognition and development programs including study assistance, traineeship programs, awards for excellence and the employee recognition program.
• Academic promotion and the academic development and outside studies program for academic employees.
• Secondments, transfers and acting appointments to expand career options.
• A linked classification program for professional employees to recognise increased skills, knowledge and abilities.
• A comprehensive range of professional development programs and opportunities.
• The BUILD performance management system which supports and develops employees to work effectively and in alignment with University objectives.

Workplace and community benefits

• Free car parking on University campuses.
• Retail facilities including the Darling Heights Post Office (PDF 99kb),  food outlets and other services available on campus.
• Diverse opportunities to engage with the local communities,  including linkages with the USQ Corporate Club.
• An outside employment policy which provides employees with the opportunity to undertake other activities in the community.
• A targeted annual reduction in the University's carbon footprint of 10% per year with a commitment to a carbon neutral operation across all campuses by 2020.

*This file is in Portable Document Format (PDF) which requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader. A free copy of Acrobat Reader may be obtained from  Adobe. Users who are unable to access information in PDF should contact Trudi Davidson to obtain this information in an alternative format.