Plenary meeting on 8 June 2022
11.08.2022
Each plenary session of the AXA European Works Council is an important step in the life of the group's social dialogue. Today more than ever, the EWC must remain vigilant as the economic, health and political context becomes more complex.
As a preamble to the work of the June 2022 plenary session, Hedi ben Sedrine, secretary of the EWC, and Koen Hermans, Group Director of Social Relations, welcomed the participants and presented the agenda.
Speech by Thomas Buberl, CEO of the AXA Group
In his speech to the European delegates, Thomas Buberl, CEO of the AXA Group and Chairman of the European Works Council, referred to the unstable geopolitical context and saw Europe's actions to preserve its model as a strong signal. The impacts on the group are contained but the group remains vigilant on the evolution of the situation. The group is doing well, the balance sheet is solid and its transformation towards technical risks is bearing fruit. XL's result is as expected. Thomas Buberl underlined that these results are the fruit of the work of all the group's employees and thanked them once again for their commitment. AXA confirms its positioning as a responsible insurer and wishes to remain an attractive partner in the countries where it is present.
After addressing the group's strategy in the current geopolitical context, Thomas Buberl spoke about the climate issues, in which the AXA group is very involved, posed among other things by the war in Ukraine.
This was followed by a question and answer session, the report of which you will find at the end of this article (account required).
Hedi ben Sedrine, Secretary of the EWC, thanked the CEO of the group for these exchanges which sometimes allowed more than a series of questions and answers but a real discussion on important subjects. He underlined that the EWC is interested, in addition to the transnational entities, in the transformation of the general insurance entities in the various countries and that the EWC teams will meet the teams concerned within the framework of its mission to accompany the group's strategy.
Progress on engagement and smartworking
Karima Silvent, Group Human Resources Director, and Kirsty Leivers, Group Director of Culture, Inclusion and Diversity, said that one of the main lessons of the pandemic was that the flexibility that was experienced by employees had to be maintained. However, it is also necessary to take into account the cultural context of each country. In some countries, such as Hong Kong, cramped accommodation is a barrier to teleworking, while leaving the house in good clothes to go to work is socially important in Nigeria. These are just a few examples, but they show that the workplace can play a social role, both individually and collectively, that needs to be taken into account.
Within the AXA Group, the various studies have shown that team cohesion and informal situations, allowing for enriching exchanges between employees, but also the integration of new employees and digital disconnection were the most important points of attention for employees.
The group's management asked the EWC for its opinion on the work to be carried out in the future.
After Karima and Kirsty had answered the numerous questions of the delegates, the work of the EWC continued with a report of the previous day's preparatory session and a vote on the rules of procedure.
Find the notes of the meeting secretariat (login required) :
Questions and answers (login required) :