Zurich Resilience Solutions ("ZRS") in North America today announced it is launching a groundbreaking offering called the Workplace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ("DEI") Service in collaboration with Inclusion Score, a leading organization that advised on a new global diversity and inclusion standard issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in May 2021. Developed at the request of customers and brokers, Zurich's service will help businesses strategically assess DEI in their organization and work toward the ISO standard and their unique DEI goals.
With today's announcement, Zurich becomes one of the first insurance providers to offer a DEI assessment and consulting service. Using the new ISO standard as a benchmark, ZRS will work with customers to incorporate DEI into every layer of their organizations, including in governance, human resources, product delivery and supply chain. The collaboration with Inclusion Score uniquely positions ZRS to help companies take meaningful, measurable action to enhance equity, fairness and accessibility in their organizations.
"Insufficient attention to diversity and inclusion has become a business risk that can have a direct impact both on an organization's financial performance and its workforce, Recoveries in discrimination lawsuits are at all-time highs, and shareholder derivative lawsuits based on D&I are growing. Corporations need guidance when it comes to assessing and enhancing their DEI practices and policies, training their teams to address concerns and insuring themselves from business risks."
- Thomas Fioretti, Head of Zurich Resilience Solutions in North America.
Zurich's DEI service is designed to be customizable to a wide range of industries and organizations of all sizes, helping them comply with the new global standard 30415 from the ISO and providing guidance on D&I principles, practices and methods to enable and support equity, fairness and accessibility for people of all backgrounds in the workplace.
ZRS' program features a multi-tiered approach aimed at ensuring holistic analysis and long-term success. It includes:
Assessment and reporting: Measuring where organizations are succeeding in DEI as well as falling short, ZRS will offer customers a Capability Maturity Model Integration Score that assesses their organization's DEI maturity along with an improvement roadmap focused on critical areas of need in their business.
Consulting: Once the roadmap is set, ZRS Risk Engineers will work with customers to customize recommendations for their unique business challenges and provide ongoing consultation to ensure measures are implemented in accordance with benchmarks.
Services and training: With the infrastructure in place, ZRS will assist customers in communicating DEI principles throughout all levels of the organization and follow up with appropriate training to ensure objectives are understood and put into action.
Taking Zurich's Risk Engineering services to the next level, Zurich Insurance Group created ZRS last year as a global business unit to enable the expansion of holistic, innovative solutions in a rapidly changing risk landscape. ZRS provides specialized insights and tools above and beyond insurance to help businesses address and build resilience to evolving risks.
"Businesses of all sizes are increasingly being asked not only about their DEI beliefs but also to demonstrate their practices and progress as a prerequisite for winning new and renewal business from customers, for securing insurance protection and for recruiting and retaining top talent, Our new solution will help companies fortify and measure their DEI practices and integrate the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion through their entire organization."
- Julia Oltmanns, Director of DEI Services for Zurich Resilience Solutions.
ZRS' relationship with Inclusion Score will give customers access to some of the world's leading experts on diversity, equity and inclusion and increase the scope of solutions ZRS is able to provide.
About Zurich
Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With approximately 55,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property, casualty and life insurance products and services in more than 215 countries and territories. Zurich's customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX.