Caring for the wellbeing of our employees

We appreciate that today’s fast-moving and demanding work environment can pose challenges to the health of our employees and we do our best to provide them with support. In our efforts, we consider a healthy mind to be as important as a healthy body. We offer free, locally available Employee Assistance Programmes, through which our employees can get confidential, impartial and professional assistance on issues of a personal or work-related nature. To help our people stay physically fit, we provide onsite fitness centres and classes, for instance in Switzerland and Bangalore.

Pathways, our mental health network, has the mission of allowing employees to bring their whole selves to work, to allow them to feel accepted and included and to reduce the stigma potentially surrounding mental health issues. Since 2017 the network has been instrumental in raising awareness and a better understanding by creating a network of mental health champions and organising first aid trainings, lunch & learns, talks and educational videos available to all. A few highlights from 2019 activities include: a mental health TEDx co-organised by Swiss Re in Bangalore; a session on mental health awareness and stress at work in Armonk; a mental health awareness week in Folkestone and London; stress management seminars in Bratislava; and mindfulness practice sessions in Zurich.

We monitor absences due to illness (see table below showing sick leave days in Switzerland, Slovakia and India over the last three years) and respond to negative trends when they occur.

Being a parent at Swiss Re

At Swiss Re, we understand that having children and bringing them up is a source of great joy and that one’s life takes on a new quality that shapes day-to-day routines. We want to help our employees balance their career and family responsibilities, allowing them to always put their families first. To this effect, we offer a range of programmes and support services.

In general, our employees can count on diverse options, such as additional family allowance, one-off childbirth allowance, additional paid maternity and paternity leave, or the option to take unpaid leave. These benefits are tailored to the local needs of our workforce and therefore differ from region to region.

In Switzerland, for instance, we have extended our parental leave regulations and now offer our fathers and secondary carers the possibility to extend their leave by up to six weeks to a total of eight weeks, made possible by a 50/50 cost-sharing arrangement between employees and Swiss Re.

In Bratislava – one of our high growth locations – we have honoured the concept of “maternity buddies” since 2015: Every mother on maternity leave has a maternity buddy who informs her about current activities in the team, news concerning the organisation as well as open positions to encourage their return. To enable parents to concentrate on challenges at work – knowing that their children are in good hands and being properly cared for – we started partnering with the TwinCity Kindergarten, a day care provider located in the same premises as Swiss Re.