Zurich Promotes Part Time Jobs

Zurich UK is tackling the gender pay gap head on with a newly launched first of its kind initiative to advertise every vacancy as a potential part time, job share or full time working opportunity along with agile working. This, coupled with the use of gender neutral language in every job advertisement, has already generated significant change. Just three months on, the business has seen a 25% increase in the number of females applying for jobs across all levels of the business. This is particularly prominent around senior management roles which has seen a more pronounced percentage increase of 45%.

The initiative was introduced in March following internal analysis of Zurich’s gender pay gap. The business worked with an external research agency to help identify the underlying causes of the gender pay gap and ways in which to reduce it. The research highlighted the need to attract more women to senior and technical roles at Zurich. Many of these roles have not previously being available on a part-time or flexible basis.

FlexWork at Zurich

Both new and existing Zurich employees also have the option to request to work on a part time, job share or FlexWork basis. Already, (72%) almost three out of four Zurich employees enjoy Flexwork. This sets out to empower employees to work where, when and how they choose to optimize productivity and wellbeing and balance professional and personal commitments. Take-up is high and it’s agreed on an individual to manager or team basis. When it comes to working part time 11% of Zurich employees already do this and half of these opt for a four day week.

There are 8.6 million part time workers in the UK, 2 million are under 30 and 3.2 million are aged 30-49.

“Flexible working can have a massive impact on helping people into good careers. With an estimated 2 million people in the UK who could return to work, but often struggle with the commitment of a traditional 9 to 5 job, there is a huge pool of talent out there. It’s great to see a major employer like Zurich taking the initiative and offering all roles with a flexible, part time or job-share option. It’s something my department also offers and this has helped us attract excellent candidates at all levels.” – Minister of State for Employment at the Department for Work and Pensions, Alok Sharma.