Training and personal development – Our aim

Munich Re has a clear objective: to attract the best employees for the Group and to retain them in the long term. And so we are committed to a corporate culture that offers opportunities for personal development, encourages independence and rewards success and performance.

Munich Re now offers more dynamic development opportunities than ever before. Our Human Resources division in Munich took the internationalisation of its talent-management programme a stage further in the year under review and enhanced the development opportunities. This enables us to continue recruiting a high percentage of our managers from the pool of outstanding talent available within our own ranks. In the last three years, over 90% of the management positions at Munich Re asset manager MEAG have gone to internal candidates.

Training measures and career development

Munich Re advocates lifelong learning. We offer a wide range of training options in each of our business fields and at MEAG to promote key skills and specialist training in all fields of business. They include seminars, workshops, coaching sessions and international assignments. For instance, Munich Re America’s extensive training programme features a “Lunch learn” series, where employees have an opportunity to find out about health and prevention issues. We also offer training programmes on modern e-learning platforms that are accessible to our staff worldwide.

Employee expectations have changed, and Munich Re has responded by introducing new career opportunities and systematic personal development. On the reinsurance side, “Emerge international”, part of the “FUEL – Future Excellence in Leadership” programme, has got off to a successful start. It prepares young, upcoming management candidates with international potential for their first assignments abroad. ERGO has its own Management Development Unit, where senior executives are groomed for their move up to the next level. MEAG’s “Young Manager” programme helps young managers in their first year in that role with their new duties, self-reflection and corporate networking.

Combining work and studies

Munich Re offers its staff practical ways of combining studies and career. As well as the in-service “Executive Master of Science in Insurance” course run in conjunction with the Munich School of Management, the Munich model – part-time studies in insurance – is now in its seventh year. MEAG and ERGO also encourage staff to enrol for in-service study courses by meeting a portion of the costs and granting study leave. For instance, MEAG staff can enrol for a three-year Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) course or a degree course in Real Estate Economics. ERGO and renowned academic institutions like the University of Leipzig and the German Insurance Academy offer courses such as the Bachelor of Insurance Practice and an Insurance MBA.

Support through graduate trainee programme

Munich Re develops talent systematically by providing targeted apprenticeships and attractive student and graduate trainee programmes. For instance, our reinsurance graduate trainee programme, comprising professional and personal development modules, offers an all-round career start. The ERGO Group also operates an international graduate trainee programme that provides a pool of highly qualified staff.

Training expenditure at Munich Re

Data relate to staff in Germany and Munich Re’s main offices in North America.

The training costs are not fully comparable to those of the previous years due to changed expanded data collection practices at ERGO.

Investments in training declined slightly in 2010 because ERGO conducted more cost-effective training, i.e. events designed for large numbers of participants and measures that involved no external support.

Training at Munich Re

Data relate to staff in Germany and Munich Re’s main offices in North America.