In 2015, the UNIQA Group had approximately 14,000 salaried employees, of whom 6,400 were based in Austria. They all share a common goal: like a family, we are dedicated to helping our customers so that they can enjoy life-long security and plan their lives with confidence. Our employees focus on the needs of customers and strive daily to deliver the high level of quality and service to which we aspire. In recognition of their performance, employees are remunerated at market rates. They also have access to voluntary social benefits, such as special employee terms for insurance, a range of benefits linked to the promotion of employee health and an occupational retirement pension plan in Austria. Annual bonuses are paid to managers and key employees, depending on the performance of the Group and their attainment of individual objectives. We still involve all the other employees in Austria, for whom there are no bonus agreements, in the Company’s financial success. We are paying out around €2.7 million under our profit-sharing scheme for the 2015 financial year.
Striving for excellence
We are constantly strengthening the skills of our employees with new training formats and additional training days. This starts with our youngest employees. In 2015, UNIQA again hired 13 new apprentices, which brings the number of apprentices-in-training to 30. An equally high-potential target group are high school graduates, who already make up about 10 per cent of new hires. In specially developed courses of study, they learn about the demands of the insurance business from an inside perspective.
Another important component in carrying out our strategic objectives is the provision of customised training and development programmes for managers. In 2015, we continued to implement INSPIRE, our company-wide leadership development programme: a total of 126 managers will have taken part by April 2016. 360-degree feedback has been introduced to track top management performance throughout the Group. This enables the identification of strengths, learning opportunities and blind spots, and also strengthens the company’s culture of providing feedback.
Diversity and non-discrimination
We believe that the diversity of our team is an important cornerstone to the success of the UNIQA Group. People from over 32 different countries work at our Vienna corporate head office alone. We actively promote knowledge transfer and mobility between the countries in which we operate. With this in mind, for example, we offer the opportunity for international job rotation.
Just under half of the employees in the UNIQA Group are women. The proportion of women on Management Boards and in senior management positions is 20 per cent throughout the Group as a whole and 29 per cent in UNIQA International. In order to increase these proportions, recruitment processes give preference to women where they have the same skills and qualifications.
Work-life balance and social responsibility
We promote a work-life balance. A flexible, needs-based range of childcare options provides assistance for working parents. In Austria, UNIQA has joined with KibisCare to provide a comprehensive childcare service. We also offer flexible working time models and enable employees to use teleworking arrangements. In 2015, 21 per cent of administrative employees in Austria made use of part-time working and 11 per cent opted for teleworking. To ensure psychological health among our employees, our burnout prevention programme offers training for managers and employees. The evaluation of psychological stress in the workplace – which is mandatory in Austria – has already been completed for 60 per cent of our employees. It showed that social support, and by extension team spirit, are very important at UNIQA. This promotes unity as well as enhancing vitality and enjoyment of life.
The “UNIQA Freiraum” service portal offers employees a range of opportunities related to health, sports, nutrition, recreation and the arts. Additionally, there is a wide range of opportunities available at the UNIQA Sports Club, including running, bowling and squash.
Social responsibility also forms a part of our corporate culture. We encourage our employees to give something back to society and to get involved in helping those in need. Since 2013, we have therefore been offering the UNIQA Social Responsibility Day in Austria. Each employee at the corporate head office is given one working day off each year, which they can use to help a charitable institution of their choosing. For those employees who used their social day to help with the refugee crisis, UNIQA increased their allocation to two days in 2015.
