Zurich 100 Q2 theme: Our Community Experience
In 1912, as Zurich’s Swiss parent company is exploring entry into the United States, concern for social issues is at the forefront of the American agenda. The Progressive reform movement is in full swing as social reformers and journalists champion the need to improve labor conditions and the often dire plight of women, children and immigrants.
When August Tobler arrives in Chicago to assess the country’s business potential for his employer, Zurich, Chicago is one of the epicenters of the social reform movement. Leaders such as Jane Addams work to pass laws that protect Illinois workers and regulate child labor. But Chicago is not alone in its concern for the plight of its workers. After an investigation into the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, New York state passes workmen’s compensation and other reforms.
Tobler sees immense opportunity for growth in this area, and by 1920 most states have passed similar laws. Workmen’s compensation insurance is Zurich’s first product in the United States, and although Zurich’s entry into the workmen’s compensation insurance market in the United States is part of a profitable business, the long-term positive effects on the American community cannot be overstated.
Zurich’s business bustles throughout the Roaring ’20s, but the Great Depression brings a shocking slump. Zurich stays afloat in part thanks to a large contract to provide liability and workmen’s compensation coverage for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. As part of Zurich’s efforts, the company sponsors a first aid hospital for the 39 million fair visitors. Anyone injured on fair property can visit the clinic and receive prompt treatment, which visitors appreciate and also reduces potential insurance claims.
The Zurich archives report other community efforts during the 1930s, including teaming up with radio personality “Uncle Bob” to encourage kids to play on the sidewalk instead of the street and contributing funds to the Citizens Family Welfare Committee of New York. It’s likely that even in this time of economic hardship, many more generous Zurich contributions go unrecorded. But, one program stands out as both long-lasting and effective in its contribution to community health and safety. By all accounts, we have Zurich’s second U.S. manager, Neville Pilling, to thank for it.
Pilling personally oversees the development of the Safety Zone initiative, a program designed to reduce workplace accidents and deaths. Beginning in 1937, Zurich provides its clients with complimentary safety literature and creates short films for workers that promote safety and good health at home and on the job. The films are also available for free screenings to public groups, including Scouts, service organizations and schools. Pilling states in a 1941 article in Business Screen, “It is in the reduction of these unnecessary accidents…that Zurich has found its unique opportunity for public service through the creation of Safety Zone Insurance Service.” The Safety Zone program continues until the late 1950s.
In Zurich’s contributions toward public health and safety in the first half of the 20th century, one aspect of American society is not overlooked — the increasing number of drivers on the roads. In 1932, Farmers Insurance undertakes a safe driving campaign. The first program, a safety road show, plays to 40,000 people at more than 100 events in the first year. Farmers hands out 30,000 safety stickers and 60,000 brochures at these events. In the early 1940s, Farmers’ young-driver program graduates hundreds of teenagers who study safe-driving rules and sign pledges to adhere to them. Farmers continues driver safety efforts to this day, through such programs as the Y.E.S. teen driving program and promotion of safe car seat use.
Reports from corporate publication The Pulse in the mid-20th century are full of praise for individual Zurich employees who make personal sacrifices for their communities as Scout leaders, political leaders or Red Cross volunteers. Many give at the office, too, and in 1956 Zurich creates the Zurich Employees Combined Appeal Plan to formalize its fundraising structure. Rather than launch multiple campaigns per year to solicit employee donations, the Appeal Plan sets up continuous monthly deductions. Donations are then distributed to the Community Fund, Red Cross, the Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. Within days of setting up the program, 92 percent of solicitation cards are returned by generous Zurich employees.
Anecdotes abound of the generosity of Zurich employees during the next several decades. During the lengthy U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Zurich’s Chicago branch shows its support for the hometown troops by contributing subscriptions to the Chicago Tribune.
When three Chicago children need blood supplies for open heart surgery in 1973, Zurich employees hold a blood drive in which more than 150 employees donate blood.
At the same time, Zurich also supports the small business community with the Albert Gallatin Award, established in 1973. “Small, independent businesses represent over a third of the gross national product,” then-U.S. Manager George McDonnell notes, and are often the source of innovation in American commerce. Zurich’s agents nominate candidates from among the thousands of small businessmen they serve. As part of the award, Zurich donates $5,000 to the winner’s selected charity.