Staff

Considerable progress was made in 2007 with the integration of the former Gerling companies and the former HDI companies.

General activities applicable to all segments

Group Management and the Group Employee Council negotiated a social compensation plan applicable Group-wide as well as numerous settlements of interests.

The settlements of interests regulate the how and whether of entrepreneurial measures. The reaching of such agreements is a precondition and in many instances also the green light for implementation of planned integration steps. In 2007 all necessary settlements of interests were concluded for the Life Insurance Division, and in the first quarter of 2008 most settlements of interests were also reached for the Group segment of Property/Casualty Primary Insurance.

The offsetting or alleviation of economic disadvantages that may be incurred by individual members of staff as a consequence of the measures agreed in the settlements of interests is regulated by the social compensation plan. What is at stake, then, is how employees are to be assisted in the event of relocation, the compensation that is available if an employee stays on in a less well-paid job and the termination payments than can be made to those who leave the company. The social compensation plan of the Talanx Group includes inter alia extensive benefits in the event of workplace relocation, such as reimbursement of travel expenses, reasonable accommodation expenses and relocation costs as well as financial incentives for moving promptly to a new employment location.

Members of staff who have to leave the Group because they are unable or unwilling to move with their job to a new location receive redundancy payments commensurate with the normal industry level. In addition, they are able to join an employment and placement company that seeks to place staff in jobs outside the Group. This company, HDI-Gerling Beschäftigungs- und Qualifizierungsgesellschaft, has got off to a successful start. Not only that, Talanx has set up a coordinating office to assist employees in their search for new jobs within the Group.

All affected local employee councils have availed themselves of the opportunity to join the social compensation plan agreed between the Group Management and Group Employee Council, thereby ensuring that their workforces benefit from the arrangements set out in this social compensation plan.