Insurance organisation Zurich UK has introduced a permanent flexible-working policy for its 4,500 employees due to the high demand for remote working since the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
This new policy is an extension of the original flexible working policy the organisation had in place prior to the pandemic. Employees now have the flexibility to work from home on a full or part-time basis, if they can fulfil their role remotely.
Zurich UK introduced the changes after an internal survey found that 59% of employees would like to work from home for more than half of the week when the offices reopen, with a third of these employees only wanting to come into the office once a week.
Steve Collinson, HR director at Zurich UK, said: “While there is no silver bullet for how and where people work, we know they want the flexibility to work the hours that suit. But we have found the location is also a huge factor. Our research has shown us that not everyone wants to work from home five days a week forever. In effect, they want the best of all worlds which is perfectly fine. As an early adopter of flexible working, we are in a very different space for the majority of businesses. Our lockdown transition was seamless, so allowing people further freedom to revisit where they want to work is a natural next step in our journey.”
“The world has changed this year and we cannot ignore it. We have all had a chance to re-evaluate our lives and reassess our priorities. Just by giving employees the chance to work from home one day a week for example, we would save them thousands of hours commuting that could be spent exercising, meditating, having breakfast with their families or simply catching up on home admin. This is valuable time that we’re effectively giving back to people. This time could improve the quality of their lives immeasurably – in return, we get a far happier and more productive employee. It’s a win-win as far as Zurich UK is concerned.”