Zurich UK leads the industry with renewed Disability Confident ‘Leader’ status

To mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Zurich has secured Disability Confident ‘Leader’ status for the second time.

Zurich was the first insurer to achieve this recognition through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) scheme in 2017. It has again been awarded the highest level of accreditation for its ongoing work to improve access to its products and services for customers. And for its drive to create a more inclusive and supportive culture for its employees where disability isn’t seen as a barrier to opportunities and progression.

The insurer is also working to increase the 65% of employees to declare a disability status to provide a comprehensive picture of employees’ experiences. Work is underway to increase levels of self-declaration to make employees aware of why it’s so important to share this information.

Richard Peden, Zurich’s UK Chief Compliance Officer and Executive Sponsor and Working Group Chair of its Accessibility and Inclusion Network

said, “Over the past three years, we have been leading the way in promoting awareness of disabilities and inclusion and creating a more inclusive workforce. This also includes our focus on doing everything we can to best support our customers with disabilities.

“We are incredibly proud of our track record of being the first insurer to be awarded Disability Confident Leader status, as well as being first to sign up to the Valuable 500. We’re working to better understand the experiences of employees with disabilities. Collating better data will enable us to monitor trends so that we can put in place the actions needed to tackle any underlying issues.”

Zurich is working to tackle these issues head-on both for its employees and its customers through a series of initiatives:

• Accessibility and Inclusion Network (AIN) – is now in its 6th year with 120 members. It was set up to promote the inclusion of employees with disabilities and mental health challenges across the UK and to better understand their needs so that we can take practical action to meet these. Recent initiatives include in-depth research amongst disabled employees to find out more about any challenges they face.
• Disability Confident Leader - Zurich is the first in the insurance market and has secured the highest possible accreditation level for the second time. This has involved work to improve access to its products and services and through numerous volunteering programs including mentoring young people with disabilities and work with charities including Leonard Cheshire's Change 100 which works to improve the employment landscape for disabled people.
• The Valuable 500 - In 2019 Zurich was the first insurer to join this movement by committing to put disability on its leadership agenda. Signing up to the pledge is a natural extension of work already underway by Zurich to support its customers and employees with disabilities.
• Our Work Skills programme provides a tailored programme for people who have been unemployed for six months or more. We give the participants a paid, 6-month placement at Zurich with the aim of breaking the unemployment cycle and giving people an opportunity to work within a large organisation. Approximately one third of those taking part have a disability (including autism, vision impairment and mental health issues) and we are pleased to have supported many of these people into permanent employment.
• Signlive is available to our customers who require to communicate with us via British sign language (free of charge) plus Audio / CD / Large Print.
• New products are reviewed to identify potential challenges for customers with disabilities. For Zurich’s Life Protection Platform (life insurance), around 40 issues were identified when it was developed that have since been resolved.
• Vulnerable customer network established across Zurich with extensive training completed across 2020 to help our champions support our customers
• Zurich Support Services available to all customers who’ve made a claim which includes access to professional counselling services and round the clock access to a help line on issues ranging from bereavement to managing debt
• Flexible working practices – Zurich empowers its people to work where, when and how they choose to optimise productivity and wellbeing. All new vacancies are now available as part-time or job-share roles (since March 2019).
• All job applicants who declare a disability and meet the minimum criteria re guaranteed an interview for any vacancy.
• Zurich has a reasonable adjustments process in place and provides manager training in disability confidence.
• PurpleSpace member – Zurich is able to network with and learn from other organisations to develop best practice and improve performance.
• Inclusive Behaviours Pledge Zurich spearheaded the launch of this industry-wide commitment in 2018, to call out unacceptable behaviour and to create a more inclusive work environment across our sector. Over 120 firms are signed up. Within Zurich we have also rolled out new training and communications entitled ‘Dignity@Work’, to ensure that all employees are clear on their rights and responsibilities regarding inclusion.