ERGO aims to fill 40 percent of management positions with women by 2025. The mentoring programme is helping to achieve this: 70 percent of the female participants to date have reached a first or next management position. 

On the way to a management position with mentoring

The mentoring programme for women has been an important part of ERGO's diversity management since 2012 - also virtually during the Corona pandemic. It provides targeted support for female employees to prepare for a leadership role or to develop further in the leadership role they have already attained. For one year, the employee (the "mentee") is in regular contact with an experienced ERGO manager (the "mentor") to discuss professional and personal development. A seminar programme with highly qualified speakers and a group task ("challenge") complement the mentoring programme.

The mentoring programme is a benefit for all

Lena Lindemann, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Human Resources at ERGO, is herself a mentor this year and thus also personally supports the company's goal of filling 40 percent of management positions with women by 2025. As an attractive employer in Germany, ERGO uses numerous measures to create an environment that promotes personal and professional growth and enables employees to develop their potential and contribute to the appropriate position.

The mentoring programme demonstrably contributes to this: 70 percent of the female participants have reached a first or next management position. "By participating in the mentoring programme, we are on the one hand giving talented female employees a valuable opportunity for professional and personal development and on the other hand giving us as a company the equally valuable chance to fill management positions internally with qualified women. We should and must continue to use these opportunities together in the future," Lindemann explains the importance of the mentoring programme for ERGO.

Strengthened leadership role

Sarah Wegner from Berlin has just completed the one-year mentoring programme. The engineer is a group leader in building services. The intensive discussions with her mentor have encouraged her to continue on her path as a leader with self-confidence and newly acquired skills. She sees the past "guidance" as thoroughly positive: "I have gained the self-confidence not only to know my abilities, but also to actively communicate them. I have become more courageous. My network within the Group has also grown immensely." She has developed a plan for her professional future at ERGO as part of the mentoring programme.

Pioneer for diversity in the insurance industry

Diversity has been an integral part of the corporate culture for more than 20 years. As early as 2002, the Düsseldorf site was the first insurance company to receive the "Compatibility of Work and Family" certificate from the non-profit Hertie Foundation. Since 2004, female employees as mentees and male and female managers as mentors have regularly participated in a cross-mentoring programme with other companies. Since then, the consulting firm Kontor 5, which specialises in mentoring, has supported the insurance company. In 2008, ERGO signed the Diversity Charter, which pursues the greater inclusion of diversity in the world of work.

Katrin Weitz, Equal Opportunities Officer since 2002 and, as Diversity Manager, also responsible for the mentoring programme for women, looks back on the company's milestones on the road to equal opportunities and diversity: "From the very beginning, the advancement of women was an important issue. I look forward to a time when explicit promotion of certain groups will no longer be necessary at all." ERGO is on a good path here.

Text: Monika Stobrawe