About Zurich

Payroll Giving to Zurich Community Trust is on a pound for pound basis with no upper limit. Office based or individual fundraising by employees for the Zurich Community Trust is matched 100% with no upper limit. Team fundraising for nominated external charities is matched 50% and capped at £10,000 per event. Individual fundraising for nominated charities is matched 50% and capped at £500 per event. Children of staff fundraising is pound for pound and capped at £50. National charity days such as Red Nose Day or Children in Need are also matched 50% with no cap.

Zurich recognises its employees are best placed to identify and rectify issues within the business and have in place a range of processes to allow their concerns to be heard and dealt with. One of the key innovations is the introduction of the 3Cs – Concern, Cause and Countermeasure. This allows colleagues to raise any issues they have, with for example their working practices or working environment and if they can, suggest solutions. Each issue is held on a central database which tracks their progress and highlights any trends affecting areas of the business. Once an issue is raised it is discussed in weekly meetings and the colleague raising the issue is then empowered to implement the solution. If this is not possible it may be passed to a manager or further up for a solution. Zurich also places great emphasis on the results of the Best Companies survey. The effectiveness of these changes are then monitored through feedback and mini surveys. In addition, some departments have set up Quality Circles to facilitate the changes highlighted by the employee survey on a more micro level. The Circle is made up of managers and employee representatives and solutions are communicated back and monitored by Circle.

Zurich recognises that they are only as good as the people they employ, and to attract and retain the most talented individuals they need a reward system which fits their diverse and changing needs. Reward is not just about pay and perks though. Zurich believes it also includes publicly saying ‘thank you’ through schemes such as PACE, which seeks to reward employees who go the extra mile in making Zurich Basics a working reality, Zurich Global Starz, for exceptional performance and SHINE, a scheme to allow employees to nominate their colleagues’ outstanding contributions. Their flexible benefits scheme offers employees the opportunity to sacrifice salary in return for a range of benefits such as health insurance, dental care, skin screening, childcare vouchers and Zurich Spree – a pre-paid MasterCard. They can also save into a pension, increase or decrease holiday entitlement, join the cycle2work scheme and buy low cost parking. All of this is taken from staff salary before tax, thus reducing the overall cost to the employee. In addition, Zurich runs a Partnership Shares scheme offering the opportunity to own part of the company. The other major strand of their rewards system is through charitable work. Giving back is part of Zurich’s DNA, and an important part of employment proposition. Charitable giving and individual fund raising is matched up to a pound per pound raised and all employees given at least one paid day off to volunteer – allowing them to share and learn new skills.