With the adoption of our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, UNIQA has for the first time set concrete goals to increase diversity in the group in the long term.
In June 2022, UNIQA published a strategy for diversity and inclusion for the first time. This forms the basis and framework for all our activities. The strategy is part of our UNIQA 3.0 strategy program and is clearly aligned with our values. Because we only see our maxim "living better together" as fulfilled when equality and equal opportunities are fully in place and our values are lived every day.
Diversity has been on everyone's lips for years. In the world of work, we understand the term to mean the similarities and differences between employees based on individual personality traits and lifestyles. Diversity has many dimensions: Age, gender, ethnicity/skin color, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientation and religion, but also marital status, income, education and much more.
"We are convinced that as part of our UNIQA 3.0 program for the future, we must focus even more on our employees and create a corporate culture in which we promote innovation and growth. Diversity and inclusion play a central role in this. After all, diversity creates the variety that gives us different skills and perspectives. If we succeed in creating an inclusive environment, we will also succeed in harnessing this potential and turning it into success," says René Knapp, Chief HR & Brand Officer, explaining the importance of diversity and inclusion at UNIQA.
Diversity creates the variety that gives us different skills and perspectives. If we succeed in creating an inclusive environment, we will also succeed in harnessing this potential and turning it into success.
Following the appointment of Ulrike Kienast-Salmhofer as Diversity & Inclusion Officer, UNIQA 2021 also set up a committee. Under the auspices of Management Board members René Knapp and Wolfgang Kindl, it pursues the goal of advancing diversity and inclusion in all areas and processes of the company and ensuring the implementation of the new strategy. With the additional support of a project team, concrete goals have been added to the existing Guiding Principles in recent months and, together with the Guiding Principles, they have been combined into a comprehensive strategy of their own.
In parallel, UNIQA carried out a gender-pay analysis for the first time, thus obtaining transparency through comprehensive data. These made it possible to analyze the employee structure according to different aspects.
Because the aim is to achieve visible and measurable progress by the end of 2023, the focus will initially be on two key areas from the broad range of diversity and inclusion: "Equal pay for work of equal value" and "More women in management positions".
"Coming from the operational core business, it is very important to me to set concrete perceptible signs. Diversity & Inclusion is a business unit like many others. And just as we need cost, sales and profit targets, we also need targets for diversity and inclusion. Otherwise it won't work," says Ulrike Kienast-Salmhofer, confirming the need to set concrete goals.
The following targets have therefore been set for pay equity: For example, the adjusted pay gap at the Austria site is to be reduced to well below 1%. In our second home market, the CEE region, we are focusing on our large national companies in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where we will also be implementing standardized and regular equal pay analyses and measures by 2023.
In order to increase the proportion of women in management positions in the long term, the processes for recruitment and promotion have been revised. The aim is to increasingly address a wide range of talents and ensure transparency and equal opportunities in internal careers. In addition, a mentoring program was launched in Austria in 2021 to provide opportunities for professional and personal development.
With these and other initiatives, UNIQA in Austria aims to increase the proportion of women in senior positions in general and explicitly in management positions by 5 percentage points by the end of 2023.
However, we do not want to and must not limit diversity to the topic of equality. That is why, in addition to these focal points, further goals and initiatives will be pursued in the coming years in the areas of generation management, inclusion of people with disabilities, and work-life balance. Likewise, we want to use our internationality much more as a strength in the future. In addition, we express our respect for the sexual orientation and identity of all people through a clear commitment and targeted accents.
In the future, these measures will be accompanied by a clear commitment to diversity and inclusion in the form of various memberships as well as consistent and honest communication both internally and externally.
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