What it’s like to work at Zurich

Apprenticeships are a core part of Zurich’s long-term talent strategy – offering inclusive, skills-based career pathways to support business needs and workforce development.

In North America, Zurich’s award-winning program operates in over 20 locations, offering paid, debt-free paths into insurance. Over 400 apprentices have been hired since 2016, with an 82-percent program completion rate and guaranteed roles postgraduation. Zurich was the first U.S. insurer certified by the Department of Labor and is an official Apprenticeship Ambassador. Future needs are assessed on an ongoing basis, and new offerings, like the paralegal apprenticeship, added. Zurich’s other established programs in Switzerland, Germany, the UK and Italy reflect our commitment to building a future-ready workforce through accessible careers and continuous skills development starting with entry-level roles.

Zurich North America’s Phased Retirement@Zurich program offers employees a flexible, supported transition into retirement – while helping the business preserve knowledge, strengthen workforce planning, and maintain continuity for its customers.

Employees who meet the requirements of the program – including a commitment to structured knowledge transfer – can modify their role for up to 24 months before their planned retirement date. By using existing policies, options include reducing hours, shifting responsibilities, or working remotely from a future retirement location.

This approach enables managers to plan for continuity more effectively and sometimes innovatively – for the mutual benefit of the retiree, their team and the wider business.

Since its launch in 2022, Phased Retirement@Zurich has gained significant traction. Enrollment has increased by 86 percent year on year, with participants representing 29 different roles across all levels of the organization. On average, they bring 27 years of experience, making them vital sources of institutional knowledge and client relationships. Participants stay in the program for an average of 216 days, creating space for mentoring, succession planning, and sustainable transitions. The program also achieved a standout Net Promoter Score of 81.

You’ll have autonomy to make decisions, the freedom to shape your work, and the support to try new things. We encourage you to learn from failures, and consistently raise the bar.

You’ll be recognized fairly for your hard work. We are committed to equal opportunity and pay equity in the markets where we operate, and we track our progress closely. Each year, we conduct equal pay analysis in most of our businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure gender does not influence compensation. If we find any issues, we take corrective action and will continue to act where necessary as part of our annual review cycle.

We ask and we act. Every year, we run a company-wide employee experience survey, supported by regular local surveys, to make sure our employees’ voices are heard. In previous years, feedback from these surveys led directly to decisions related to our vision for the future, as well as ways to improve our business, helping us to spot opportunities for growth and internal mobility. We are in the process of acting on employee input to our latest survey. Going forward, we will seek input to shape our high-performance culture.

At Zurich, we go beyond listening – we empower you to actively shape our organization. You’ll have the chance to share feedback, highlight obstacles, and suggest solutions, knowing we take action to turn your meaningful insights into real, positive change.

Through its ‘Junior ExCo’ initiative, each year, Zurich Spain selects 12 high-potential future leaders to join its Executive Committee meetings, giving them the experience of participating in strategic discussions, decision-making and governance topics concerning the organization, and encouraging collaboration with their more experienced senior counterparts and learning from each other. The program, introduced in 2022, helps to develop capable leaders, while allowing the younger participants to gain experience and share their ideas. The Junior ExCo has already played a key role in the launch of an AI-powered tool for specialty products, enabling agents to deliver faster, more personalized advice.

And, in 2025, participants focused on designing a solution to help non-profits achieve more financial stability, so these organizations can better focus on their primary goal of providing support to vulnerable people and communities.

Zurich UK is leading the insurance sector in social mobility, becoming the first UK insurer to publish its socioeconomic pay gap. Analysis shows that employees from lower socioeconomic backgrounds earn 4.2 percent more at the mid-point than peers from professional backgrounds. However, they earn 10.5 percent less on average due to underrepresentation in higher-paid roles. Currently, one in five senior leaders at Zurich UK come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

To help address this, Zurich UK partners with Circl to pair leaders with young people from lower-income backgrounds for mutual coaching and skills development.

All Zurich executives who participated in the ‘Leader as Coach’ program in the UK reported becoming more inclusive, while 92 percent felt more career ready.

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