Established in 1895, KU is one of Australia’s largest not-for-profit providers of early childhood education. KU operates a portfolio of early education services and programs to enable access to high-quality early childhood education for children from birth to five years old.

KU Children’s Services (KU) believes staff are truly at the centre of the organisation. Everything the organisation does aligns with this belief, from the core Strategic Plan objective to have a ‘Thriving Professional Workforce’ through to placing staff at the centre of organisational decisions. KU’s best-in-sector employment value proposition is multidimensional and continuously evolving to reflect the needs and desires of a diverse workforce.

As a proudly for-purpose not-for-profit organisation, KU is proud to invest more than 80% of revenue in salaries and wages – offering sector-leading pay and benefits. KU also works hard to ensure the workplace culture allows people to thrive, innovate and develop lifelong careers. KU also warmly welcomes new staff to KU, invests in their future, and supports them as whole people.

The best and brightest talent are proud to work for KU and are deeply connected to the organisation’s purpose. KU is proud to nurture careers that can last a lifetime. Evidently, KU has developed a unique Professional Learning and Development Framework to build the skills, behaviour and expertise now and well into the future. In 2024/5, KU continued to innovate through an expanded program of self-directed learning opportunities for early career teachers.

KU are proud of its business-wide high-performance culture, supported by individual and organisational learning and development that is always aligned to the KU values and the specific needs of the individual. Performance management at KU is a continuous process of appraisal, review, professional development, and collaboration, designed to help identify employees’ strengths and determine clear career pathways that support staff retention and effective talent and succession planning.

To ensure KU’s employment offer continues to lead in the early education sector while reflecting the KU values, a three-year plan focused on holistic wellness is being rolled out. Ensuring psychological safety has been central to the organisation’s focus on mental and physical health – in 2025, 97.5% of staff feel psychologically safe at work.

KU continues to expand its wellness and benefits program with the recent addition of the Blue Light Card, a benefits program specifically designed to meet the needs of frontline workers, as well as the implementation of Fitness Passport in 2024. These complement KUPlus, an extensive wellbeing, discount, and cashback program, with over 80% of staff actively engaged in the program.

KU’s conditions of employment include some of the highest rates of pay in the sector for staff employed under two Enterprise Agreements – the KU Children’s Services Teachers Agreement and the KU Children’s Services Administrative Employees Agreement.

In 2025, KU are proud to have introduced groundbreaking new pay steps for service-based staff, along with increased preparation and planning time.

As a not-for-profit and for-purpose organisation with limited resources, KU works doubly hard to ensure the workforce knows their commitment is appreciated. In addition to KUPlus, other recognitions include Individual and Team ‘Making the KU Difference Awards’, a referrals program and KU salary packaging, which now includes e-bikes. Overall, there are many opportunities at KU for staff to have a voice in co-creating workplace culture and to see their innovations and initiatives come to life.

For more information about KU Children’s Services, visit ku.com.au.