Diversity concept

Within the previously established structure comprising a Diversity & Inclusion Officer and the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, the defined objectives were consistently pursued in 2022.

The well-known focal points remain unchanged:

1. Women in management – more women in management positions
2. Compensation fairness – equal pay for work of equal value
3. Generation management – old and young together contribute to the success of the company
4. People with disabilities – integrate, promote and offer positions where they can use their strengths
5. Achieving a work/life balance
6. Internationality and background – using internationality and cultural diversity as a strength
7. Sexual orientation – sexual orientation and identity are respected

The Diversity & Inclusion Strategy adopted by the Management Board in March 2022 led to two specific focal points being defined in the core insurance business by the end of 2023 within the framework of these broad-based goals: more women in management positions and higher-grade roles as well as equal pay.

Equal pay for work of equal value

The plan is for the adjusted pay gap in the back office at the Austrian location to be reduced to significantly less than 1 per cent by the end of 2023.

We immediately defined and implemented measures and also implemented a control loop consisting of detailed analyses and the measures taken in order to achieve this goal. The success was already evident in mid-2022 with a new equal pay analysis, where the inexplicable pay gap was reduced to 0.6 per cent.

In our second home market of CEE, we are focusing in the first step on our large national companies in Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, where we will also implement standardised and routine equal pay analyses and measures by the end of 2023.

More women in management positions

We have set ourselves the goal of increasing the proportion of women in higher-grade roles by 5  percentage points by the end of 2023 at the Austrian site, in back office roles in general and explicitly in management positions.

With this objective, we hope to achieve more gender diversity in higher-ranking roles and at all management levels. We see the equality of women as experts as an important basis for equality in succession planning and equal participation in all management processes. Measures within various HR processes as well as mentoring, support for childcare, working from home and even greater flexibility in working hours should further improve the corresponding overall conditions.

The newly implemented recruitment guidelines contain specific requirements for more gender diversity. As a whole, these promote diversity in all teams and at all management levels, ensure equal opportunities for all employees and guarantee an objective and transparent selection process for managers.

The successful cooperation with Female Founders was continued in 2022. This gives female talent at UNIQA an attractive opportunity for personal development.

Improving work/life balance plays a clear role in equal opportunities. There are three different home office models available to employees, offering a high degree of flexibility and thereby making a significant contribution towards improving the work/life balance.

Generation management

The increasing shortage of skilled workers, which will intensify in the coming years due to demographic developments, was identified as a major challenge for the future. Here, too, UNIQA is taking action at various points, with more intensive training for its own skilled workers based on an apprentice concept that has also led to the establishment of an apprentice network. This idea was submitted, approved and implemented as part of an open innovation competition for ideas.

People with disabilities

UNIQA has actively addressed the issue of disability as a career factor by taking part in the 2022 myAbility Talent Programme. Networking with highly qualified students with disabilities or chronic illnesses is intended to gradually lead to more innovative and diverse teams. Accessible workplaces are an important prerequisite for this. For this reason, an audit was carried out in October 2022 to verify accessibility at UNIQA Tower. In addition to largely confirming the measures already in place, potential for improvement was also identified which will now be incorporated into the planning for the redesign.

In addition, initiatives aimed at raising awareness among employees (through events and support for artists with disabilities) as well as the commitment to myAbility events (closing event for the Talent Programme and Disability Comfort Day) are evidence of UNIQA’s commitment to people with disabilities.

Commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion

Our fundamental rejection of all forms of exclusion and discrimination is expressed in the Diversity & Inclusion Policy, which we began drafting in 2022.

A standardised process for dealing with allegations of discrimination has already been introduced. This is intended to provide employees with even greater protection from discrimination and harassment.

We also re-emphasised our approach in 2022 through a number of different priorities. For instance, UNIQA celebrated the Day of Inclusion of People with Disabilities as well as International Women’s Day. A series of events organised by the women’s network appealed to many people throughout the entire year. During Pride Month, in addition to taking part in the Pride parades in Vienna and Warsaw, the rainbow display at the UNIQA Tower and joining Pride Biz also provided strong signals in favour of promoting sexual diversity in the world of work.

UNIQA decided to suspend the lighting at the Tower during the evenings in August as a visible sign in the current energy crisis. UNIQA made a very conscious decision to make just a few exceptions: The UNIQA Tower lit up as a “tower of names” to mark the anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, for “Orange the World” as a clear statement to protest violence against women and for #purplelightup to champion an accessible economy with no barriers.