• Swindon & Wiltshire Economy
• Wednesday April 10 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Flexible hires increase four-fold at Zurich in a boon to working mums

Insurer Zurich has nearly quadrupled the number of employees hired on a part-time basis – in a boon to working mums.

In a bid to attract a “new pool of talent” – especially working mums – the Swindon-headquartered firm became the first company in Britain to offer all full-time roles on
a part-time, job share or flexible basis in 2019.

This week the company announced that since advertising all roles as ‘flexible, part-time or job share’ the number of female part-time hires at the insurer has increased almost four-fold – with 87.5 per cent of hires being female.

And the scheme has also attracted men looking for more flexible working – the number of male part-time hires has also more than doubled since the scheme was launched.

Meanwhile the number of internal promotions offered on a flexile basis has increased 167 per cent.

Zurich’s data was released to coincide with the government’s announcement that millions of UK workers will now be able to request flexible working from day one of their employment, under plans to make flexible working the default.

This falls under the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act, which came into effect on Saturday (April 6).

Steve Collinson, chief people officer at Zurich UK, said: “Offering flexible and part-time working for all our roles advertised has had a real impact on attracting and recruiting top talent to our brand and it’s something we remain committed to.

“It’s great to see a consistently high number of people applying for our roles since 2019, and even more so we are proud to see that we are supporting peoples’ careers to grow and develop with internal promotions whilst also accommodating their flexible working arrangements.”

MP Yasmin Qureshi, said: “It is welcoming to see the impact that offering employees flexibility has had on Zurich, resulting in a surge of applications and importantly, offering flexibility to those who need it.

“Not only has this policy shown an increase in applications per role, but it has also opened up opportunities to women across the UK to enter the workforce.

“I’m thrilled that the new legislation is coming into play so that both employees and workplaces can see the benefits of accommodating flexible working whilst attracting and retaining talent.”

Latest: Zurich’s domestic abuse policy recognised with national business award