In the past years, UNIQA has achieved remarkable transformations. The secret to its success has been the honest focus on the customers – a principle that drives everything UNIQA does.
The company applied a customer-centric approach across the Retail, Corporate & Affinity, and Bancassurance business models. With a solid foundation, UNIQA is ready to scale its business even further, always focusing on customers. Employees focus on Key Strategic Initiatives through a unique cross-functional and cross-country collaboration model - commUNIties- to enhance collaboration and agile working methods.
CommUNIties are a well-established platform for UNIQA employees to bring their talents, ideas, and skills together and to learn from each other. This new way of agile collaboration builds on established practices and fosters cross-country and cross-functional collaboration. CommUNIties, established in 2021, have now evolved to the next level. After three years, there are already 12 commUNIties with over 900 members, heading to expand this agile collaboration model across the entire organization.
CommUNIty activities offer hands-on experience, exposure to new ideas and technologies, and opportunities to work in an international environment. This engagement helps members to develop new skills, broaden their expertise, and advance their careers. As a commUNIty member, the employee can build an international network and gain a deeper understanding of the organization.
The goal is to work in agile teams and support the implementation of key strategic initiatives, which must meet specific requirements, such as strategically changing an existing status quo, creating a positive impact for many business units with easy scalability for the Group, and being transparent with clearly defined objectives.
Initially, the commUNIties model was piloted with a few groups, proving its value for teamwork across functions and countries. This year, the model has been expanding across the entire organization to encourage broader collaboration and the development of talents, ideas, and skills.
Some commUNIties members from various functions and countries shared their insights into the collaboration and answered questions about their work and roles. It demonstrates how commUNIties not only support the professional success of each individual but also strengthen the entire collaboration across the group.
We've created a movement where everyone recognizes that commUNIties are vital to the UNIQA 3.0 strategy. Growing our impact is only possible when we align our efforts.
At the beginning of December, more than 100 UNIQA employees came together to the commUNIties Summit for two days of brainstorming, collaboration, and creativity. Lukas Klein, Chief Business Development Officer International, and Iris Brachmaier, Group Chief People Officer, opened the event and set the tone for an engaging and productive Summit.
Lukas Klein: "It is amazing to see what has been achieved over the last five months within our pilot. commUNIties are not just a great vision anymore but an integral part of our Group Strategy UNIQA 3.0 Growing Impact. We have successfully institutionalized the model, communicated it broadly across countries, including Austria and recognized participation through initiatives like extending invitations to the commUNIties Summit. Most importantly, we were also able to derive major learnings that allow us to further improve the collaboration model."
Iris Brachmaier: "The commUNIties approach is transforming the way we view careers. By exchanging knowledge, sharing experiences, and learning from each other within commUNIties, we are redefining growth. When we put energy into upskilling, it becomes a career in itself, with progress measured by skills and contributions, not just titles.”
Participants worked in cross-functional teams and tackled real business challenges predefined by the retail, bancassurance, and corporate & affinity business models. Each group dove deep into their task: understanding the customer problems, developing creative solutions, gathering customer feedback, and finally presenting their ideas to a jury of UNIQA's Business Executive Board International members.
Olivera Böhm-Rybak, Chief Corporate & Affinity Officer International, CEO UNIQA Sustainable Business Solutions: "What truly inspires me is seeing how everyone prioritizes the customer. Every presentation and perspective we explored during the event embodied our core value: 'Customer first.' Reflecting on the past two days, I feel incredibly proud of t remarkable culture at UNIQA, where living this customer-first mindset is part of who we are."
The Summit emphasized the importance of customer-centric approaches, teamwork, and the power of collaboration. The event concluded with a virtual appearance by Wolfgang Kindl, Member of the Management Board (Customer & Market International), who praised the achievements of the commUNIties project and its impact on UNIQA's strategic goals: "What we've achieved in recent years is something to be truly proud of. It hasn't just met but exceeded our expectations. We've created a movement where everyone recognizes that commUNIties are vital to the UNIQA 3.0 strategy. Growing our impact is only possible when we align our efforts. We’ve built a true competitive advantage over the past months, and I encourage everyone to make the most of it."
Opening of the commUNIties Summit
