International Women's Day: Vienna Insurance Group takes a pioneering role
Female top-level managers in all Austrian companies
Vienna Insurance Group takes a pioneering role in Austria with VIG CEO Elisabeth Stadler, the only female CEO in the ATX index, Judit Havasi as the CEO of DONAU Versicherung and six other women in the Managing Boards of Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein, Vienna Insurance Group, Wiener Städtische Versicherung and DONAU Versicherung.
Diversity as part of day-to-day life
Every year around International Women's Day on 8 March, attention turns to women in leading positions and quotas for women. No quotas are needed for the companies in the listed Vienna Insurance Group, which has for decades followed a strategy supported by management attitudes and the Group's main shareholder Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein. “When I define diversity as an important part of the corporate strategy, actions will follow that direction. We are convinced that diversity as a part of day-to-day life contributes to the economic success of a company,” explains Elisabeth Stadler, CEO of Vienna Insurance Group, on behalf of the female top managers in the Group.
Women in managing board positions for four decades
In 1982, Helene Fischer became the first woman elected to the Managing Board of Wiener Städtische. Today, there are three women on the Wiener Städtische Managing Board: Christine Dornaus, Doris Wendler and Sonja Steßl. DONAU Versicherung has two women in top management with CEO Judit Havasi and Edeltraud Fichtenbauer. Elisabeth Stadler, CEO of VIG, continues to be the only female CEO for the listed companies in the ATX index, and Liane Hirner holds the position of CFO for the Group. Helene Kanta, member of the Managing Board of the Group’s main shareholder Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein, rounds off the group of eight top managers.
One in three managing board members are women
VIG follows a clear diversity strategy focussing on the criteria of gender, internationality and generations. The gender measures for VIG include promotion of a gender balance at management levels and a better balance between career and family. Women currently hold 35% of the managing board positions in the Austrian VIG companies.
Diversity strategy based on appreciation
The VIG Human Resources strategy includes an appreciation of diversity as one of its key elements and, therefore, the removal of obstacles to women's careers, among other things. The nomination process for training programmes for management, high potential employees and experts is required to include equal numbers of genders. Wages and remuneration systems are gender-neutral and offer equal earnings opportunities for all genders.