Gone are the days when we would graduate from school, choose a career, then never look back. Today, the world moves at a tremendous pace – many professions are evolving so fast that skills quickly become obsolete, and employees are hungry to keep up and keep moving. 

A comprehensive learning offer is therefore essential, and it’s also a win-win. Continuous upskilling unlocks opportunities for employees’ personal and professional growth, and it keeps the company competitive. 

At Allianz Trade, we’re proud of our focus on learning, development and mobility, and we invest heavily to ensure our learning offer is top-class – so to speak!  

Empowering all employees

At Allianz Trade, employee satisfaction is at the heart of our promise to employees, We Care for Tomorrow. We listen to and care for our employees in all possible ways, at every step of their journey with us. And when it comes to their professional development, we build on Allianz Group’s learning ecosystem and programs to support each employee.

We offer everyone opportunities to upskill and progress, whether they want to build competencies for their current position, or target mobility (both in terms of job functions and geographic location). We offer classic classroom learning in person and virtually, as well as coaching and a library of content, such as “blended learning” modules that combine instructional videos with written exercises. Alternatively, there’s the option to observe a colleague in their role to learn directly from them, as well as other informal learning methods.

And the response to our programs shows the strength of our learning culture at Allianz Trade: according to our annual employee survey, 72% believe our learning and development offer will support them in future roles.

A passport for leaders

Our management development program also serves to ensure their competencies match the market needs in our ever-changing business environment. Called #Lead, this global program defines a common base of technical, behavioral and emotional skills for managers across the Allianz Group.

Its goal is to ensure our leaders are equipped to manage teams in a world where flexible working is becoming the norm, and in-person collaboration is not always possible. With topics from change management to digital leadership and agile working, the program involves regular flexible learning modules to earn the Allianz Leadership Passport, which requires renewal every year.

Like our employee program, #Lead is tremendously successful, with very high engagement among our managers across regions.

Learning is integral to our culture

At Allianz Trade, we foster a culture of inclusive meritocracy, where people and performance matter. This means valuing unique experiences and profiles while actively encouraging the desire to learn, test and push one‘s limits. We do this by giving our people unlimited development opportunities and making continuous skill building not only available, but also relevant to everyone across the company.

I’m particularly proud of how we adapt our learning offer to not only the regulatory context, but also the cultural specificities of each country in which we operate. For example, our coaching sessions on intercultural business relationships might look different in the US than in APAC, and learning modules on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are tailored to employees in Europe.

Through this approach and our rich learning offer, we aim to achieve an ambitious goal: by 2025 we would like every team member to devote at least 45 hours of their time at work to learning, in all its forms. This represents around one hour per week dedicated to deepening their knowledge, acquiring new skills, perfecting their profession and creating new opportunities for themselves.

Skill building for the future

At Allianz Trade, we empower people to take an active part in their future. “Start your tomorrow, today” is more than a motto. It’s a foundational ideal behind our learning offer, which truly comes alive through our focus on offering employees the tools to thrive and grow their careers.

In a changing world, our focus on continuous learning is about growing our capacity to innovate and meet tomorrow’s challenges. This really is a key to our culture – and to our success.