Allianz's Commitment to a Hybrid Work Model with Bettina Dietsche

As a financial services provider, we have the task of supplying our customers with the best possible products and services. This is only possible with a healthy and motivated workforce and outstanding talent. To recruit and retain this talent, we must always stay on the ball in terms of our attractiveness as an employer. For example, in many countries we are certified according to the standards of Great Place to Work.  

Our people are our greatest asset and nowadays, hybrid working models and modern offices are an important factor in our attractiveness as an employer. Flexible working also promotes employee loyalty, as a recent study by Stanford University has shown. Ultimately, we also see our flexible working model as a benefit for our company. Motivated and committed employees are essential for innovation and resilience – characteristics that are becoming increasingly important in an ever more volatile world.

The guiding principle for our flexible working arrangement is to do the right thing in the right place and empower our employees and teams to make this decision themselves. When deciding where to work, we trust them to find the right balance between their own needs and those of our customers, our business, and our teams.

We offer every employee the opportunity to work remotely for 25 days a year. From our data, we know that around 50,000 days were spent working abroad for private reasons in 2023. 

Since the end of 2023, we have also created a great offer with our mini-mobility concept, which allows our employees to work abroad for up to three months at another Allianz entity. 

These flexible working offers are very well received and motivate our employees. In our annual employee survey, 90% of our employees worldwide say they are satisfied with our flexible work setup.

Generally speaking, it is very important to us to continuously develop our areas of work and to stay up to date. We have open work areas with desk sharing at most of our locations, which are equipped with small telephone booths and different meeting rooms. We also have quiet areas, where employees can work in complete silence, as well as small lounge islands with sofas and armchairs, coffee bars or kitchens everywhere, where people can chat informally. Numerous meeting areas and agile zones allow for teamwork. 

In addition, the right technology in the hybrid office is crucial to creating a collaborative and productive working atmosphere - between those who work in the office and those who work remotely. This includes video conferencing, but also modern collaboration tools liek Microsoft Teams that combine meetings, chats and calls. We are constantly investing in training so that our employees can make the best possible use of these workplace technologies. 

We are particularly proud of the additional services we offer to make our employees' lives as easy as possible. This includes for example fitness programs or dry-cleaning services. Not to be forgotten is a good culinary offering that inspires our people. Many of our restaurants offer fresh, healthy meals every day, mostly made from regional products.