EMPLOYEES AT ZURICH, the insurance giant, have double indemnity on their job satisfaction. Not only are they covered for professional fulfillment, they also volunteer for charity in office hours — more than 60% of staff used work time to give something back to society last year. The Swiss-owned company was founded in 1872, and has a UK workforce of 6,200 based at Fareham in Hampshire. Its staff believe the company does a lot for the local community, giving it a 68% positive score on this measure, the highest among big companies. Charitable activities are encouraged (89%, ranking second), and employees believe Zurich has a strong social conscience (81%, also second) and makes a positive difference to the world (69%, sixth). The Zurich Community Trust matches staff donations made by payroll giving on a pound-for-pound basis, and fundraising done in the office or individually is also matched 100%, with no upper limit. Zurich also matches funds raised for charity by employees' children, up to a £50 limit. In total, the company itself contributed 80% of the £2.9m donated to charity on its behalf last year. In addition, volunteering is embedded in the company culture and staff donated 6,400 days of their time to help good causes, including such initiatives as the “call-in-time” telephone befriending scheme to reduce isolation for elderly people, in partnership with Age UK. Zurich also offers local young people six-month secondments and has ended up employing six of them directly. Competitive salary and benefit packages help Zurich staff feel properly rewarded for their jobs. Almost half of employees qualify for Zurich's pension, into which the company pays 29.3% of salary. Health screening, income protection, life assurance and reward shares are some of the company-wide benefits on offer. People can exchange pre-tax salary for savings on extras including low-cost local parking, dental care, skin screening and Zurich Spree —a prepaid MasterCard. www.zurich.co.uk
