Careers

Work-Life Balance

People in park

Your life is not just work

We understand your time matters — that’s why Sandia is flexible in many ways.

Sandia encourages employees to have a healthy, multidimensional lifestyle and achieve a personal balance between home, work, and community life. We offer flexible work arrangements that serve as alternatives to the traditional workweek. Sandia also provides a fulfilling professional environment, a network of employee support resources, and an array of health and wellness programs. In addition, we promote opportunities for community involvement and celebrate significant team efforts.

We provide the following programs to support our employees in both their work and personal lives.

Flexible work arrangements

  • 9/80 compressed workweek. Put in 80 hours over the course of 9 workdays, and take every other Friday off.
  • Flexible work hours and flextime. Shift your hours as needed to an earlier, later, or split schedule.
  • Telecommuting. Work from home or other remote locations when business needs allow.
  • Part-time work. Move from full-time to part-time for personal or family reasons, such as dependent care, educational pursuits, and pre-retirement transitions.

Time away from work

  • Vacation. Start accruing at a rate of three weeks per year, and watch your accrual rate increase as you reach service milestones.
  • Holidays. Enjoy 11 holidays each year, including a winter shutdown period at the end of each calendar year.
  • Sick leave, jury duty, maternity leave, and other paid time off. Take the days you need when you need them.
  • Personal absence. Ask for time off to handle life issues, such as the adoption or birth of a child (both parents); children's school activities; the care of a sick family member; medical and dental appointments, emergencies, and the death or serious illness of a relative or close friend.
  • Job-protected, unpaid leave. Choose how to take leave granted by the Family and Medical Leave Act and California Family Rights Act — all at once, intermittently, or combined with vacation or flextime.
  • Extended leave of absence. Request leave without pay for the following situations:
    • Child, family, or medical care
    • Military duty
    • Personal or special reasons

Convenient, on-site resources

We know your time is important. That's why we have on-site health clinics, fitness centers, and cafeterias. Employees can also join the Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union, which provides on-site facilities and ATMs in New Mexico and California to serve your banking needs.

Wellness programs

Sandia models, supports, and rewards healthy work-life behaviors. We offer preventive healthcare screening programs, on-site fitness centers, nutrition services, smoking cessation programs, and online heath resources. In addition, Sandia/California hosts a monthly farmer's market and offers on-site massage therapy services.

Child care referral service

We provide assistance in locating, selecting, and evaluating child care providers in the community. Sandia/California employees can also rely upon the quality services of a nearby highly regarded child care center that is limited to the children and grandchildren (ages 6 weeks through 12 years) of Livermore laboratory employees.

Expectant parent assistance

Few life events cause as much excitement and stimulate as many questions as becoming a parent. Parenting not only affects your personal life, but your professional life as well. Sandia offers an Expectant Parent program that assists employees before and after the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child by providing relevant information regarding:

  • Protecting the health and safety of you and your unborn child
  • Sandia benefits available to you, including sickness absence
  • Time off options for child care
  • Sandia's policies on flexible working arrangements
  • Federal and state regulations and benefits (e.g., paid family leave)
  • Points of contact and additional resources
  • Breastfeeding support, encouragement, and information

Reimbursement spending accounts

Employees can set aside pretax dollars for the reimbursement of dependent or elder care expenses and unreimbursed healthcare expenses.

Employee associations

Sandia offers employees free membership in two associations: the Sandia Employee Recreation Program (SERP) in New Mexico and the Livermore Laboratory Employee Services Association (LLESA) in California. Both groups provide recreation activities for Sandians and their families. SERP and LLESA members can receive discounts on items such as movie tickets; gym memberships; bus passes; and tickets to museums, amusement parks, and sporting and entertainment events. The groups also provide opportunities to play team sports and rent low-cost camping and sport equipment. Moreover, LLESA members have access to the nearby LLESA Children's Center, which provides high-quality, year-round child care services for children and grandchildren ages 6 weeks through 12 years of age.

Volunteer opportunities

Sandia participates in an annual United Way Campaign and a number of rewarding community involvement programs. Sandia also provides a limited number of hours for employees to participate in corporate-sponsored community education programs. By sponsoring contests and awards, serving as science fair judges, and hosting family science nights, our staff seeks to foster the natural curiosity in children and demonstrate the exciting aspects of science to inspire the next generation of scientists.