Message from the CEO
After two years of the pandemic, many of us hoped and believed that 2022 would be a ‘normal’ year. But not much has been normal, and 2022 offered many surprises as well as some unexpected turns.
It was a brutal start to the year when Russia invaded Ukraine. But in the midst of all the tragedy, it was heart-warming to see how our employees did what they could to help both customers who were there when the war broke out and also our corporate clients with operations in the affected countries.
Concern for victims of the war has also continued throughout the year, including with our employee donation scheme. If chose to double donations to charity organisations helping the people in Ukraine, and by the end of the year, we had together donated more than SEK 4 million.
Another initiative that I am particularly proud of from last year is that we made great progress in implementing sustainability in our underwriting. We expect our corporate clients to comply with the principles of the UN Global Compact, which include commitments to fundamental human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption. We have now assessed almost 700 corporate clients and ensured that they comply with these standards.
Great leadership is becoming increasingly important
Great leadership has always been vital to us at If, but in the rapidly changing world around us, this is becoming increasingly important. We want our leaders to be properly equipped to make the right decisions together with their teams – with a customer perspective in mind. It is equally important for us that all our employees feel safe and included.
To guide our leaders in these matters, we decided to create four guiding principles that will help to build trust, create a strong culture, and ensure that If is an inclusive and engaging workplace. In October 2022, we launched the If Leadership Compass Program for all our 1,000 leaders, which will run for around nine months. This is a significant investment that will enable our leaders to support and motivate their teams in a way that contributes to our common direction and the fulfilment of If’s strategy and vision.
One of our leadership principles is to ‘Make it all about people’, because it is the sum of the contributions that our people make every day that leads to If’s improvements. The fact that we are at our very best when we are together became even clearer last year. The joy of returning to our offices was enormous, and I am delighted that our corridors are once again buzzing with life.
It has taken some time to find the right balance between working in the office and working from home, but there is no doubt that we cooperate best when we meet face to face. That is when we build on our strong If culture, and create the best conditions for greater collaboration across the company.
I am truly proud of our joint achievements during 2022.
I am truly proud of our joint achievements during 2022, and look forward to this being continued in the year to come. Together, we will continue to work towards the fulfilment of our ambition to actively contribute to a more sustainable society.
Morten Thorsrud CEO, If