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Swiss Re Asia’s employer brand refresh draws on its commitment to purpose, progress and partnership. The result? An authentic and future-ready brand experience that strengthens trust and talent engagement, shares Helen Birnie, HR Partner for South East Asia.
Swiss Re Asia’s journey to refreshing its employer brand began with a simple belief that being seen as a great place to work is essential to engaging and retaining the right talent. The HR team saw that employer branding is not simply an external message but a strategic lever that shapes how people understand the organisation’s purpose, culture and the experience of working there. This approach aligned closely with Swiss Re’s overarching brand promise of "partnering for progress", as well as its commitment to building a more resilient world.
As the company transitioned towards a unified masterbrand, it faced the challenge of ensuring its employer brand refresh captured the evolving identity of a purpose-driven and technology-enabled organisation. The task was to create something authentic and emotionally resonant, while staying consistent across regions. This required extensive listening to employees across business units. Through testing, workshops, pilot campaigns, and open feedback loops, the team worked with employees to shape a refreshed Employee Value Proposition that reflected what mattered most to them: purpose, progress and partnership.
At the HR Excellence Awards 2025, Singapore, Swiss Re Asia was honoured with the gold award for 'Excellence in Total Rewards Strategy' and the bronze award for 'Excellence in Employer Branding'.
Speaking to HRO after the win, Helen Birnie, HR Partner for South East Asia, leaves HR leaders with a key reminder: that the most powerful employer brands are built on authenticity and deep listening.
Q Tell us about your inspiring HR initiative – what sparked the idea, and how did you know it was the right path to take?
Our initiative originated from a simple but powerful insight: building a reputation as a great place to work is key to driving employee engagement and retention. Employer branding is about shaping people's perception of what it is like to work for the company, and it is a critical strategic lever in attracting and retaining the right talents to drive success for Swiss Re. It also leans on our overarching brand tagline "partnering for progress" and into our promise to jointly power progress in making the world more resilient.
Q Every journey has its ups and downs – can you share a challenge your team faced and how you worked through it together?
Our biggest challenge was ensuring our employer brand refresh truly reflected the evolving identity of Swiss Re, a company that’s both purpose-driven and technology-enabled. As we moved to a unified “partnering for progress” masterbrand, the task was to translate this corporate promise into something authentic and emotionally resonant for employees and candidates alike.
We needed to balance global consistency with local authenticity, and that meant deep listening. We conducted extensive testing across regions and business units to shape our refreshed Employee Value Proposition (EVP), one that captured what employees value most: purpose, progress, and partnership.
Through workshops, pilot campaigns, and open feedback loops, we created a shared success story where employees played an active role contributing to the transformation of our employer brand. The result was an EVP and brand identity employees could genuinely see themselves in.
Q What impact has this initiative had on your organisation so far, and what do you hope it inspires in the wider HR community?
The refreshed employer brand has had a measurable and meaningful impact on Swiss Re’s ability to attract, engage, and retain top talent.
Internally, engagement has strengthened significantly. Employees say they are proud to work for Swiss Re, they would recommend it as a great place to work. Our Top Employer certification for three consecutive years reflects the consistency of our people-first approach.
As part of the Employer Brand refresh, we also revamped our careers portal on the website, providing an improved gateway for talents to identify opportunities within Swiss Re in the region. Impact of the change was visible with improved traffic and click rates from potential talents, and the number of views on job descriptions increased by 42% with significant decrease in drop-off rates on our career pages.
Our implementation of the employer branding campaign to support recruitment in India was a success, where visitors to the campaign landing page reached 1.1mn . We generated more than 100,000 views of job descriptions and received more than 6,000 applications in our system for available roles.
For the wider HR community, we hope our story demonstrates the power of authenticity — that employer branding is not about slogans, but about lived values. When your purpose and EVP are in sync, the brand becomes a reflection of your culture, not a projection of it.
Q Looking back, is there a moment, person, or value that kept you and your team motivated throughout the journey?
The value that anchored us throughout this journey was “partnering for progress.” It’s more than a tagline, it’s a shared belief that we progress together, whether we’re rethinking risk, shaping culture, or telling our story to the world.
A defining moment came during the launch of our corporate video campaign featuring real employees. Seeing colleagues proudly share their stories, voices, faces, and experiences reminded us why authenticity matters. It was a demonstration of our commitment to giving our people a platform to be seen and heard, as well as showcasing how our employees are active contributors to Swiss Re's success.
That moment captured what our employer brand truly stands for, a collective of individuals united by purpose, integrity, and progress. It kept us motivated to keep building a brand that mirrors the strength and spirit of our people.
Q If you could offer one golden nugget of wisdom to HR professionals aiming for excellence, what would it be?
The most powerful employer brands are authentic, built from listening deeply to what your employees value, are passionate about, and aspire to. Build your brand on those insights and let your people be your storytellers.
At Swiss Re, we’ve learned that consistency, transparency, and authenticity are the cornerstones of trust. When employees believe in the story you tell, they don’t just work for your brand, they live it.
Employer branding goes beyond the campaign; it’s a culture. If you nurture it with purpose and empathy, it becomes your organisation’s most enduring advantage.
Read more interviews on why organisations have won trophies for their HR practices - head over to our Winning Secrets section!
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