Formal training

Formal training at Swiss Re combines technical, professional and leadership skills training. We design our training internally or in collaboration with leading external partners and deliver it through our long-established Swiss Re Academy. Our courses are well received by our employees; for instance, in leadership skills training we scored 4.35 out of 5 in 2015 (highest score ever recorded).

Swiss Re Academy has developed extensive professional and personal development curricula to respond to changing business needs. Currently, we offer more than 960 different training courses. Our employees attend training in areas as diverse as underwriting, finance, sales and negotiation, leadership, diversity and inclusion, interpersonal skills, project management, office tools and language skills. Certain courses, such as legal & compliance training, are mandatory. We recommend that employees who work directly with our clients invest at least two days per year in formal sales training.

To support the professional development of our employees, Swiss Re Academy provides a portfolio of “blended” learning paths, combining face-to-face learning, eLearning, peer-to-peer coaching and virtual classrooms. By combining and linking some of our training courses, they offer a flexible approach to learning. Topics addressed in blended learning paths include communication skills, conflict handling, influencing skills, presentation skills, and remote management and working.

In 2015, all our employees took part in our development and training programmes. They completed 204 225 hours of training overall, averaging 15.5 hours and learning costs of USD 1 024 per employee. This drop in per-capita training expenses is directly related to the increase in on-line learning and the decrease in classroom trainings. In addition, each of our Business Units organises a considerable amount of specialist training.

In line with our flexible development and training philosophy, the Swiss Re Academy intranet site gives our employees easy access to our global learning catalogue, links to regional learning offerings and a multimedia library. Close to 74% of our training is delivered through eLearning formats. This reduces the need for our employees to travel and spend time away from the office, while supporting our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint (see “Our Greenhouse Neutral Programme”).