Zurich move up in the Stonewall Equality Index

Despite the highest standard ever in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index this year and with 19 companies dropping out of the Top 100, Zurich in the UK is thrilled to have made positive progress with Zurich's own ranking moving up 75 places.

We are now ranking as one of the leading insurers in the list and now appear at number 215 of the 415 companies in the survey.

Kay Martin, Executive sponsor of Zurich’s sexual diversity network commented, “This is the second year of Zurich’s participation in the Stonewall Survey, and we were aiming for Top 250. So, as we rose 75 places and are now at position 215, we’re thrilled to see such rapid progress. We have some work to do, but it’s great to see our progress recognised by Stonewall. We recognise that having a diverse workforce not only helps our business, but really drives through to our customers. We know that people perform better when they can bring their whole selves to work, and it’s been proven that diversity among staff leads to a more productive, positive and creative workplace environment. And happy colleagues make for happy customers.”

This year saw over 400 organisations take part in the Index, the highest number in its 12 year history. Each participant had to demonstrate expertise in 10 distinct areas of employment policy and practice, including networking groups, career development, training and community engagement. More than 60,000 staff from across these organisations also took part in an anonymous survey about their employers’ attitudes towards workplace culture, diversity and inclusion, making it one of the largest national employment surveys in Britain.

Nationally, responses to the survey reveal that:

- Only 27 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual people feel comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation to all colleagues and customers. Figures were lower for lesbians (23 per cent) than gay men (33 per cent), and considerably lower for bi individuals (12 per cent).
- People who are out as LGB at work experience better job satisfaction and have a higher sense of achievement, according to 67 per cent of lesbian, gay and bi people
- Just 11 per cent of respondents believe there are bi role models at work; 19 per cent see trans role models, 42 per cent see lesbian role models and 53 per cent see gay role models at work
- Senior leaders are showing more commitment to lesbian, gay and bi equality now (63 per cent) than in the previous year (53 per cent)
- Just 42 per cent of trans respondents said that senior leaders demonstrate a visible commitment to trans equality at work

In 2015 across Zurich UK we:
- put diversity monitoring in place through our employee management system
- began work to make Zurich a more inclusive workplace for transgender employees
- enhanced our communications, community involvement and employee engagement across our UK workforce
- established all our D&I groups, with 150 people as part of our GLEE (Gay, Lesbian and Everyone Else) network
- held workshops on how we better understand and support bi and transgender colleagues
- ran "No Bystanders" anti-bullying events in nine office locations around the UK.
- hosted events as part of the Lloyds of London "Dive In" event
- saw our GCUK Chief Underwriting Officer, Nick Major make the FT's list of the top 100 LGBT role models.
- supported Pride by transforming the Zurich logo on social media

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VERCIDA works with over one hundred clients who are committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you are an employer and interested in working with VERCIDA to promote your diversity and inclusion initiatives and attract the best candidates, please call 02037405973 or email [email protected] for more information.

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