Career development at Swiss Re

Our philosophy at Swiss Re is that career development is a shared responsibility between each employee, his or her line manager and the company. We encourage our employees to think in terms of a multidimensional career “lattice” and not just a vertical career ladder. There is no single, pre-set career path at Swiss Re; rather, the paths are as diverse as the individuals working in our company.

Our Virtual Career Centre (VCC) supports and embeds this philosophy. It includes extensive information about different roles in the organisation, and brings together useful tools that our employees can use to raise their self-awareness, to reflect and to plan their career. The number of employees who used the VCC averaged 1 459 per month in 2014, with a peak of 1 901 in February.

In line with our Leadership and Personal Imperatives, we have developed a growth survey tool involving a 360° process. This survey is designed to provide feedback on the effectiveness of leaders and experts as well as to identify areas of further development. In 2014, 150 leaders conducted the survey during the enrolment process for our internal leadership programmes.