"Managers and employees have a responsibility to act together"

Zedelius: Allianz is responding to an opportunity here that has presented itself to us for a number of reasons: since the form of our company changed to the European legal entity of an SE in 2006, employee representation across Europe has taken on a new quality through the SE Works Council. And we have taken the opportunity to reach a cross-border agreement of this nature in Europe. Furthermore, Allianz has traditionally been engaged in a "people business". Therefore the health, well-being and performance of our employees have traditionally been central concerns for us.
There can be a number of reasons for individual employees experiencing stress in their working environment. For example it might be due to the way the work is organized, or the problem might be the person him or herself. Ultimately, the issue is about how teams operate and what we can do to enhance the well-being of individual employees and the performance of the team.
Work-related stress has been growing continually in all sectors in recent years. This is not an acute problem or a problem that is specific to Allianz. It is a long-term development to which we want to take a fundamental approach.

Zimmermann: The new guidelines are our response as a company and an employee representative to a challenge that has gained importance in recent years and has also emerged as a risk. Studies have shown that stress-related illnesses are frequently also related to work. They have drastically increased over the past ten to twelve years. Some company medical officers would also be able to make some fruitful contributions in this area.
In 2006 we launched a joint attempt to link the legal form of the SE with a new European departure and the aim of creating a new European identity. We quickly identified health as an issue that was equally in the interests of employer and employees. We therefore placed this on the agenda as a key challenge. After all, it is our greatest asset, and it's something you can't purchase. We asked ourselves how you should respond when somebody says "my work is making me ill". There are uncertainties about this on both sides. Some Allianz companies have already recognized this and addressed the issue. There was already a stress policy in place in England at the time, and we were able to build on it. But there were also a lot of activities in this area in Germany.

From left: Rolf Zimmermann, Chairman of the SE Works Council together with Werner Zedelius, Member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE and also responsible for HR topics

Zimmermann: As an SE Works Council, we only have a legal basis for representing the interests of employees across Europe. However, health promotion is already firmly established in the basic contract for the SE Works Council, and Allianz is aiming to go beyond the statutory regulations in this area. Allianz could therefore quite conceivably issue the guidelines that we have adopted for Europe to all the other entities in the Group.

Zedelius: Our interest in the well-being of our employees is naturally not restricted along geographical lines. But the authority of the SE Works Council has enabled us to adopt the guidelines by mutual agreement for the European economic area and Switzerland. I am confident that the agreement we signed will also send out a signal beyond the area in which these guidelines apply. We will disseminate them to the entire Allianz Group through appropriate communication. This is because we want our executives, managers and employees to take an informed approach to the issue of work-related stress.

Zimmermann: As an affected employee, I first need to consider that I might have a problem related to stress. This requires the ability to analyze myself and take a critical look at the way I do things. If I have the feeling that I'm permanently overloaded, this may be due to a number of different reasons. Are they perhaps in my private sphere or are they caused by my work? At any rate, I need to take responsibility for raising the matter of these problems myself.
Our supervisors also have a responsibility, because they need to have the appropriate sensitivity to be able to identify problems of this nature and have the skill to take the right approach to addressing them. They need to protect employees who have successfully overcome a phase of stress from being subjected to further excessive overload. But this is not so easy, because there is a conflict of interest for supervisors, who have a responsibility to their employees but also have to meet targets as a member of the Allianz Management. Problems therefore have to be communicated across all hierarchical levels so that the Management Team on the next tier can adjust its expectations.
There is still a steep learning curve to be mastered here. We are at the beginning of a long-term process for dealing with stress. This needs to be tackled in a way that rises the opportunities for identifying problem issues. But this can only be achieved by employees and supervisors working together. Otherwise the project is destined to fail.

Zedelius: As far as I'm concerned, the key issue is communication about any stress situations as a joint task - that cannot be addressed by one side on its own. This is why we are sending out a signal to initiate an open approach to dealing with work-related stress.
Supervisors must be in a position to explain the work assignments and requirements to employees. For example, what does it mean when we say something is in the interests of our customer or sales partner? What do they expect from us in concrete terms and what does this entail for our work? We also need to prevent employees from being stigmatized if an employee has successfully come through a phase of stress. The employee's opportunities for promotion and further development perspectives mustn't be compromised or restricted.
Affected employees need to analyze themselves and have the openness to address their problems with colleagues or supervisors at an early stage rather than when it is too late. This is only possible if the necessary mutual trust is in place. We are attempting to motivate employees to take advantage actively of the range of courses, consultancy measures and sport.
Ultimately, both sides have a responsibility to act together and be proactive in taking responsibility for preventive action. The earlier respective problems can be identified and addressed, the greater the possibility of reducing the resulting symptoms and burdens.

Zedelius: We want to further expand and intensify the existing initiatives and offers and that needs to happen now, completely independently of this schedule for carrying out a review. We have informed all CEOs and personnel managers about the guidelines. We expect the next phase to involve appropriate measures being taken at a local level and in harmony with the relevant statutory regulations. Further development needs to be continuous and should be pursued at a local level. These two years provide just one point in time when we will have a critical look at the progress made.

Zimmermann: I would like this issue to be taken up as a joint challenge for employee representatives, management and employees in all entities of Allianz.
I would also like employees to be involved in the countries were there is no employee representation.
The responsible managers on the ground need to reflect on the best approach to tackling the problem cases in their specific circumstances. I would be amazed if we came up with a uniform solution for this when we review the situation in two years' time. I am anticipating a varied picture because the relevant solutions for the local entities depend on their size, the previous development on this issue, and local culture and tradition.
We want to present this varied picture as an overview to the entities and offer an opportunity to make comparisons as well as providing ideas. Are there still issues that remain open for which other people have perhaps already found a solution?
When it comes to concrete issues on implementation, we are already able to provide support as an SE Works Council and we expressly offer our help and cooperation on this matter.

 
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