As personalised medicine develops rapidly and patients’ needs continue to change, sustainable solutions must be found for the insurance models of the future.
We are committed to the future
In the broader sense, sustainability means Helsana being actively involved in finding such solutions. In the stricter sense, it means maintaining a dialogue with policyholders, partners and employees – working with them to tackle sustainability challenges. This includes minimising environmental emissions, acting in an ethically and socially responsible manner, and adhering to high standards of corporate governance. All employees regularly complete appropriate e-learning units and sign a Code of Conduct.
The Helsana Code of Conduct (in German) sets out the ethical principles that govern the Helsana Group’s business activities.
Voluntary work carried out by Helsana employees in 2020 is noteworthy. Although the COVID-19 pandemic meant that many assignments were unable to take place to the extent we would have wished, 127 people nevertheless performed a total of over 700 hours’ service in a variety of social and environmentally sustainable projects. This is in addition to employees who were deployed at the Swiss Red Cross’s Corona Test Centres
Dialogue with our employees
Helsana employees are invited to participate in the annual employee survey at the beginning of each year. The response rate in 2020 was 83.7%. Employees’ participation is anonymous. The survey asks them to rate their work situation, own attitudes and behaviour, and health topics. No matters were identified last year that required immediate action, and employee satisfaction was high overall. Particularly high scores were given for Helsana’s engagement, the sense of belonging at Helsana, and the business’s customer and quality orientation. General wellbeing in the workplace, management style and the transparent communication of goals also attracted high scores.
In a further survey conducted in July 2020 by our internal Diversity & Inclusion function, factors such as affiliation and authenticity scored highly. Employees also feel that Helsana offers strong support when it comes to balancing work and family life. The survey did, however, reveal room for improvement in the area of equal opportunities.
We welcome criticism or suggestions how to improve, which any employee may raise internally at any time. The number of suggestions that were received by the Corona Task Force, which coordinated Helsana’s support through various internal and external measures at the start of the pandemic, shows that this system works well
We are committed to our employees
Helsana works with specialist institutions to continuously develop its comprehensive occupational health management. Helsana’s “Friendly Work Space” sets the Swiss quality standard for systematically implemented occupational health management. Diversity at Helsana is checked regularly by “St.Gallen Diversity Benchmarking”, taking targeted measures with our internal function to manage and further develop our approach to diversity and inclusion. Helsana sees diversity and inclusion as enriching our corporate culture, and consistently pursues the principle of equal opportunities for all. An important factor here is the compatibility of family and career. Helsana actively takes advice from “UND” in this regard, and was awarded the “compatibility of work and private lives” rating in 2018 and will be recertified in 2021.
Helsana offers a broad and diverse range of options to work part-time. Our maternity and paternity arrangements go above and beyond the legal requirements. In the case of pregnancy and maternity, employee are entitled to paid maternity leave of 16 weeks at 100% of salary. As of 2021, paternity leave at Helsana is three weeks, also paid at 100% of salary and can be taken within six months of birth. Employees with children receive a monthly care allowance of CHF 100, irrespective of the extent to which they are employed or the official child allowance.
Speak-Up external reporting
Helsana employees may report potential breaches of statutory regulations or internal rules. This includes being able to do so anonymously via the “Speak-Up” digital whistleblowing tool, which was set up on 1 September 2020. Nine reports were recorded and processed between that date and the end of the year. The page received almost 900 hits, which shows how well-informed employees are about this new reporting tool, including how to use it.
More than 3,400 commitments
More than 3,400 people worked for Helsana as at 31 December 2020. 61% of them were women, and 39% were men. Helsana employed a total of 62 apprentices and 18 high school trainees as at the end of 2020. Employees stay with Helsana for an average of 8.7 years.
More women than men work part-time, at 974, being almost one-third of women. Women make up 41% of Helsana’s management staff. Three out of ten members of Helsana’s Board of Directors are women, and the proportion of women at team management level is 16%.
