Sustainability Report 2015
Health and wellness
The health of our staff is an essential prerequisite for the sustainable development of Hannover Re's business and for safeguarding our high quality standard. Bearing in mind that most work is done at a desk, good ergonomic working conditions, relief from eye and back strain and stress management are vital to Hannover Re's employees. To this end, we have put in place a range of measures as part of our company health management programme. The focus is therefore on the prevention of disease, e.g. through medical check-ups by the company physician, workplace inspections, advice and treatment relating to matters of general medicine as well as vaccinations and vaccination advice. We coordinate our health management activities through our company physicians and in the form of extensive wellness programmes and sports opportunities.
In our Sustainability Strategy adopted by the Executive Board in 2015, we also set ourselves the goal of preserving and as necessary restoring the performance capability of our employees. This is something that we intend to accomplish through, among other things, the continuation and enhancement of our existing wellness programmes and preventive medical check-ups. In 2015 corresponding working groups began their work, defined measures and prepared them for realisation in 2016. In August 2016, for example, the first Wellness Day was held at the Hannover location.
We offer our staff at Home Office in Hannover a broad range of fitness opportunities, for example through company sports groups dedicated to various types of sport as well as through cooperation arrangements with fitness studios. Courses in back training are offered on a regular basis. When it comes to individual workstations, Hannover Re is responsible for providing the most ergonomic possible room layout, desks and chairs. Not only that, Hannover Re can organise a mobile massage service upon request and provides appropriate facilities at the Home Office location. Where required, Hannover Re pays the costs of special computer glasses.
A heavy workload can cause stress and then potentially lead to other medical issues. For several years now we have therefore offered seminars for staff and managers designed to help identify stress triggers, develop coping strategies and recommend tried and tested stress management methods. Offered under the name "Gesund.Stabil.Leben" ("Healthy.Stable.Living"), the emphasis is on prevention and a holistic understanding of well-being, thereby ensuring that challenges do not give rise to undue stress.
In the year under review Hannover Re updated the further training available in relation to health and the preservation of performance capability and the support provided to our staff in the late phase of their working life. For this purpose we launched a seminar that imparts know-how to our employees on the correlations between the workplace and wellness and promotes awareness of resilience factors. The participants learn about their own individual resources that support them in a healthy lifestyle and in the preservation of their long-term ability to perform.
As part of our Sustainability Strategy we decided to set up a counselling service to assist with personal or professional crises. Going forward, this "Employee Assistance Programme" is intended to help staff at Hannover Home Office deal with particularly challenging situations in life. In 2015 various potential providers were invited to present their concepts for review. The programme was rolled out in mid-2016.
The risk of physical impairment to our employees, i.e. of occupational injuries or fatalities, is comparatively slight owing to our business operations as a financial services provider. Employees of Hannover Re in Germany reported altogether 24 accidents while at work or commuting in 2015. The total number of employee days lost was 12,452. The rate of absenteeism due to illness was slightly higher in Germany in 2015 than in the previous year at 3.8% (previous year: 3.6%). No work-related fatalities were recorded among the workforce at any Group company.