Sustainability Report 2015
Diversity management
Hannover Re benefits in large measure from the abilities and know-how of its employees, whether they be female or male, older or younger, and from the various nationalities within the Group's workforce. With this in mind, we enshrined the fostering of this diversity in our Sustainability Strategy 2015-2017.
Going forward, we intend to raise diversity awareness among our managers through training activities. In addition, we are aiming to increase the proportion of women in management positions and we are pressing ahead with the mentoring programme for women as part of our sustainability activities.
Our Code of Conduct, which is applicable worldwide, stipulates that nobody may be disadvantaged on account of their gender. The remuneration of our employees, for example, is based exclusively on their skills and qualifications and is therefore independent of gender, age or origin. As part of our compliance structures it is possible to report any instance of misconduct through a whistleblower system. However, no cases of discrimination arose at Hannover Re in either the year under review or prior years.
The proportion of women and men in Hannover Re's total workforce is balanced. Yet women are under-represented in the company's higher hierarchical level compared to men. With a view to changing this and fostering the potential of all employees, both female and male, the Executive Board decided in the 2012 financial year to press ahead with measures for the advancement of women. To this end, our existing personnel development tools were supplemented by a mentoring programme designed especially for women. This programme involves bringing female employees together with experienced senior managers for a period of 12 months to engage in a targeted, regular dialogue. The mentees are encouraged to reflect on their professional development to date and to take steps to actively shape their future career. Yet for the managers too, who in some cases are members of the Executive Board, the role of mentor enables insights to be gained and leads to greater awareness of gender-related issues. The mentee-mentor tandems have been very successful so far, prompting Hannover Re to plan a further increase in the number of such tandems. As a further step, we intend to promote awareness among our managers of "Gender-specific communication" by means of a seminar offering on this topic.
Diversity indicators
Hannover Re collects data Group-wide on the diversity of its workforce in relation to gender and age, and at Hannover Home Office additionally in relation to nationality. On ethical grounds and in part due to statutory regulations, we do not publish any data on other categories such as religious belief or disability.
At Hannover Home Office alone, the 1,337 members of staff come from 39 different nations and thus reflect the international dimension of our business operations. Two different nationalities are represented on the seven-person Executive Board of Hannover Re.
| Breakdown of employees by country in 2014 and 2015 | ||
| 2015 | 2014 | |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1,337 | 1,298 |
| USA | 283 | 285 |
| UK | 156 | 200 |
| South Africa | 156 | 164 |
| Australia | 103 | 100 |
| Sweden | 92 | 89 |
| Ireland | 51 | 48 |
| Other | 390 | 359 |
| Total | 2,568 | 2,534 |
Of the 94 managers working in Germany, 15 are women, or 16.0%. Group-wide, the gender balance of the 2,568-strong workforce is balanced at 48.9% male and 51.1% female. For the German companies, we have targeted an overall ratio of 16.8% for women in the two levels of senior management directly below the Executive Board by 30 June 2017. With the proportion of women standing at 15.1% in 2015, we are well on track to achieving this goal.
Breakdown into male and female employees in 2014 and 2015
In Hannover Re's personnel statistics a distinction is made between three hierarchical levels: Group Executive, Senior Management and other employees. Of the altogether 2,568 employees Group-wide, 160 (6.2%) belong to the category of Group Executive, 531 (20.7%) to the category of Senior Management and 1,877 (73.1%) to the category of other employees.
Details of the breakdown of the various employee categories are provided in the tables below.
| Breakdown of employees by gender | |||||
| 2015 | 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Number | in % | Gender | in % | |
| Group Executive | Men | 136 | 5.3 | 136 | 5.4 |
| Women | 24 | 0.9 | 23 | 0.9 | |
| Senior Management | Men | 355 | 13.8 | 339 | 13.4 |
| Women | 176 | 6.9 | 166 | 6.6 | |
| Other employees | Men | 764 | 29.8 | 756 | 29.8 |
| Women | 1,113 | 43.3 | 1,114 | 44.0 | |
| Breakdown of employees by age group | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2014 | ||||
| Age group | Number | in % | Number | in % | |
| Group Executive | Up to age 29 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0,0 |
| Ages 30 to 49 | 77 | 3.0 | 87 | 3.4 | |
| Aged 50 or over | 83 | 3.2 | 72 | 2.8 | |
| Senior Management | Up to age 29 | 2 | 0.1 | 1 | 0,0 |
| Ages 30 to 49 | 352 | 13.7 | 338 | 13.3 | |
| Aged 50 or over | 177 | 6.9 | 166 | 6.6 | |
| Other employees | Up to age 29 | 339 | 13.2 | 330 | 13,0 |
| Ages 30 to 49 | 1,168 | 45.5 | 1,187 | 46.8 | |
| Aged 50 or over | 370 | 14.4 | 353 | 13.9 | |