Career returnees at Swiss Re
#breakthebias
#recruitment
#inclusion
As demographic shifts continue to reshape the talent landscape, attracting and retaining future-ready talent has never been more critical. Swiss Re is investing in an inclusive culture – one that looks beyond traditional talent pools.
Career breaks are increasingly common, taken for a range of personal or professional reasons.
Yet returning to work after a break often comes with barriers. At Swiss Re, we recognize these challenges and the untapped potential within this talent pool.
We developed the Career Returnees at Swiss Re initiative with our ambition in mind: inclusion, fairness, empowerment, and business impact.
Built on four pillars:
Launched in July 2024, the initiative has welcomed over 62 employees across multiple global (12 countries) locations:
• Career breaks are not limited by gender
• Career breaks occur at all career stages
• Returnees integrate and deliver quickly
• Career breaks are a global phenomenon
• Onboarding experience: 92% satisfaction in the survey
• Upskilling and refresher training: 82% satisfaction rating in the recent survey.
This Best Practice was first published in the Gender Intelligence Report 2025.
As demographic shifts continue to reshape the talent landscape, attracting and retaining future-ready talent has never been more critical. To remain competitive and deliver value to our people, clients, and shareholders, Swiss Re is investing in an inclusive culture – one that looks beyond traditional talent pools. One such pool includes professionals seeking to re-enter the workforce after a career break. Career breaks are increasingly common, taken for a range of personal or professional reasons such as childcare, caregiving, health, personal development, or other life events. These breaks can happen at any stage in a career and may last from a few weeks to several years. Yet returning to work after a break often comes with barriers: limited flexible roles, outdated perceptions of recent experience, or recruitment processes that don’t reflect the returnee’s reality. At Swiss Re, we recognize these challenges and the untapped potential within this talent pool.
Our goal was to provide a solution to empower professionals returning to the workforce and support their transition. Through a dedicated programme, we aimed to:
The Career Returnee initiative is built on four key pillars:
“I stopped working to pursue an MBA in IE business school in Madrid. I think that stopping your career is a tough decision because it brings lots of uncertainty to your life. In my case, it was not only about earning a salary, but also about where I was going to live after my master’s degree, in which industry, or even if I would like my new role. The most rewarding part of returning is that most of that uncertainty vanished after I accepted offer to join Swiss Re.” – Santiago Gutierrez, 31 years
“A lot of people going through a career break have questions about how they will cope in their career and in the corporate office, knowing that the world is changing so fast. Fortunately, I had a very good onboarding programme, taking you through the full life cycle of the experience for you to get through the domain, the technology of skilling and then giving you the opportunity to quickly learn on the job and build on it.” – Nageshwar Rao Chukka, Engineering Director TA Digital & Tech L&H Re, a career returnee
The benefits are clear: by engaging this underrepresented talent group, we gain access to a diverse and experienced pool of professionals while addressing talent shortages in critical areas. Launched in July 2024, the initiative has welcomed over 57 employees across multiple global (11 countries) locations. Insights into career breaks and professional reintegration:
We pride ourselves on creating an inclusive culture in an international environment where innovation and development are at the forefront. That’s one reason our motto is ‘we’re smarter together.”
Fostering Inclusive Behaviors
We equip our leaders and people with the tools and skills to recognize bias, embrace diverse perspectives, and make inclusion part of everyday work. A key focus is strengthening inclusion literacy across the company, especially among people leaders.
Inclusive People Practices at Swiss Re
We ensure our core people practices provide equal opportunities and access for all. These include, among others:
Empowering Communities
We foster connection, community, and inclusion through our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). These employee-led networks are open to all employees and offer spaces for dialogue, support, and shared learning – spanning a wide range of identities and interests, from gender and culture to mental health and working parents.
For more information about this Best Practice, reach out to the author:
Shachi Irde
Vice President, DEI Manager, Group Human Resources
shachi_irde@swissre.com
Bongiwe Mncube
DEI & Culture Lead
bongiwe_mncube@swissre.com
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