Employee development and growth

Implementing effective programmes to further develop and train our employees and leaders lies at the heart of our People Strategy. This is also something that employees clearly want, as reflected in the Employee Engagement Survey results. While 70% of surveyed employees said we strongly support their learning and development (above the Global High Performance benchmark), respondents still asked for more development opportunities at Swiss Re.

Therefore, we made a number of changes to more effectively embed our 70/20/10 approach to development and growth.

We introduced a new initiative, PersonalGrowth@SwissRe, highlighting the role line managers and employees play in supporting personal growth and career development. In support of this new development, we launched an online support tool called e-Zine for the EMEA region to spur more direct ownership of individual development. We also introduced social learning through the use of technology in our Bratislava and Bangalore offices, where the average employee age is lower than in the Group as a whole.

We also offered new skill development solutions for leaders, including revamping our Talent Broker platform, to provide more visibility and simpler access to job rotations. In 2016, around 800 employees per month used the platform and around 100 rotation opportunities were advertised. We also piloted reverse mentoring with 13 members of the Reinsurance Management Team, which will be expanded across other business areas in 2017 (see Generational differences in the workplace: Are they true?). In addition, we continued our “speed mentoring” offers.