Having talent is not only to have the people, but rather to ensure that they are well, so that they can develop their maximum potential. Therefore, the investment in talent should not only be in terms of training or development, but also in reconciliation, autonomy to decide how they want to work and in health”.
So of blunt shows Santiago Insula, director of hr and Corporate Responsibility at Zurich in Spain, to argue the bet that makes the international insurer for the personal development of its employees. “To enhance the talent, we need to give autonomy or space for the person to decide how you want to develop your activity,” he adds.
In fact, one of the pillars of its CSR strategy is the commitment with their partners, to promote the reconciliation, satisfaction, and personal growth of the teams. To do this, as pointed out by Cristina Gomis, director of Corporate Responsibility, Zurich considers it essential to support the initiatives of interest headed by its employees and to promote a healthy lifestyle. And are not empty words. For example, the company gives the utmost importance to the volunteer as one of the best ways of development and personal growth. Hence that has, for years, with the Club Volunteering.
Active on the whole national territory, and chaired by Vicente Cancio, CEO of the insurance group in Spain, this club develops actions to provide value to the community, the person and the company, organizing its activities around four pillars: childhood, environment, people at risk of social exclusion and skills.
75% of the collaborators has welcomed the plan ‘flexwork’ to work 20 hours outside of the office.
Among the initiatives most striking include those directed to the training and empowerment of young people and adolescents, which is funded by the Z Zurich Foundation. It is the case of get Ready for the life—400 children have already received training to deal with risks that are well on their way to maturity, the participation in the FP Dual specialty Insurance (85 students) and the programs of the Foundation Junior Achievement (2.231) that foster the entrepreneurial spirit and professional orientation. In addition, the company is promoting company’s Corporate Scholarship Program of ESADE and member of the management Committee of Zurich collaborate with the Foundation Princess of Girona as mentors to young people.
Emphasizes the participation of volunteers of Zurich in other activities such as the walk of solidarity in favour of people in vulnerable situation, organized by the Obra Social San Juan de Dios; in the collection and organization of toys donated in the Christmas campaign of daydreaming or in the collection of school supplies led by the Fundació Pere Tarrés. Another example is their involvement in a project of the Foundation I Want to Work, who seeks to advise on styling and confidence to women in long-term unemployment, with a job interview imminent.
there Are 50 initiatives in which they participated, by 2018, more than 550 people, which they developed in total 8.844 volunteer hours, 500 more than the previous year.
a Good part of that dedication took place during the time of work that Zurich gives to its employees. And is that all the members of the company have the ability to allocate one day per year to any charitable cause.
The growth of the employees also promote an environment that facilitates that they give the best of themselves. Starting with the reconciliation of the personal and professional life that, according to the opinion from the organization, “allows you to improve the performance and makes us an organization more productive”. Hence the implementation of what is referred to as flexwork, which makes it possible to work up to 20 hours a week outside of the office. There are already more than 1,200 people work from anywhere and with freedom time, 75% of the total number of collaborators.
With the aim of promoting the culture of wellness in the work, the company also provides instruments and knowledge that contribute to improving the physical and emotional health of the people. On the one hand the staff receive training in health, nutrition and financial future, and on the other, have facilities for physical activities (yoga classes or pilates in working hours) and have a sports club, the Zurich Sports Club, which is scheduled annually in different careers. The employees ask for their participation in, a lot of solidarity, as the Magic Line-Sant Joan de Déu or the Trailwalker of the Intermon Oxfam, and the company subsidizes the registration. In 2018, more than 1,300 employees benefited from these initiatives.
As indicated in the Santiago Island, in the insurer also boosts the development of talent. How? Applying the philosophy “You are the CEO of your career”, which is the responsibility of each professional and will be encouraged to identify their interests and to actively their professional development. It is also key to the program is The talent matter, in which managers and employees talk several times a year on setting goals, career, evolution and balance of the finished development, all in an environment that encourages the recognition.
In short, initiatives to the welfare of the people as a goal, a satisfaction that the company measured with surveys: “help Us to identify the areas in which the employee does not feel comfortable, and in order to improve the effectiveness of our actions”, concludes the director of Human Resources
THE KEY ROLE OF THE Z ZURICH FOUNDATION
To the development in Spain of some of the CSR activities is essential to the support of the Z Zurich Foundation. Is in charge of finance, for example, programs of corporate volunteering to empower young people, for which there is engaged an investment on the part of the institution, of € 1.6 million between 2018 and 2021. In fact, according to remember Vicente Cancio in the Sustainability report 2018, the initiatives that promote the support of the youth would not be possible without your financial help. The CEO of the company in Spain refers to programmes to promote employability, such as Junior Achievement or the FP Dual insurance, and to get Ready for life, “a training for teens that delves into the causes of the youth unemployment through education in the prevention of risks at an early age”.
in Addition, as a strategy to encourage the involvement of the template, the Z Zurich Foundation matches all contributions that employees make to charitable causes, which last year accounted for € 32,000. Also, it translates into money the hours that workers spend annually to activactivities of volunteering, an amount that is donated to social causes that will be chosen among all. In 2018 the contribution exceeded the 26,000 euros, corresponding to 8.844 hours of volunteer work.
