The diversity of our workforce is one of the cornerstones of our commercial success and is therefore vital to our company. We derive considerable benefit from the different talents, nationalities and cultures of our employees as well as from a generational mix that can draw on a wide range of experiences.
Both Group-wide and at the Hannover location the gender ratio of the workforce is almost balanced (52% women and 48% men at the Group's headquarters in Hannover, as of 12/2019). Yet women are under-represented on the higher hierarchical levels. With a view to changing this, we have put in place a number of tools and practices designed to support women even more closely in their further professional development: these include, for example, seminars on gender-specific communication and a mentoring programme.
Another round of this 12-month programme is taking place in 2020 – and to this end we have matched nine female employees (mentees) with nine seasoned senior executives (mentors) in so-called tandems to share ideas and experiences on a systematic and regular basis. The mentees are encouraged to reflect on their professional development to date and to take active steps to shape their career progression going forward. For their part, the executives – who include Board members – find that the role of mentor opens up valuable insights and brings greater awareness of gender issues.
With a staff turnover rate of 2,7% (as of 12/2019) we are below the industry average. In this connection it comes as no surprise that around 32% of our employees are over the age of 50 – after all, we celebrated our own fiftieth anniversary in 2016. Hannover Re creates a framework that enables employees to combine their professional career and private sphere in various phases of life.