We strongly believe that a diverse workforce encourages people to bring 100% of themselves to work and thrive. That’s why we’ve taken a number of steps to show our commitment to gender equality in the workplace, and while more can be done, we’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved over the last year:
- 44% of the AXA UK & Ireland management committee are women
- 36% of our executive roles are occupied by women
- 82% of our people said they can be themselves at work and 80% can see others like them
By 2023, we want to increase the number of women in executive roles across AXA Group to be a 50/50 gender split. Not only will this help us retain and attract talented women, it will support our business growth. In the UK we launched our Women in Leadership Development Programme in 2018 and almost 80 women took part over two years. Now, we’re revamping a new diversity and inclusion career development programme to support everyone.
How our people reacted to the news of being named a Times Top 50 Employer for Women
Gender equality is important to us and our people. AXA Balance, one of our employee resource groups, represents gender equality and working families and aims to create a working environment of inspiration and support. A massive thank you to everyone involved for their hard work and for driving forward gender equality across AXA UK & Ireland.
“Being recognised as a 2021 Times Top 50 Employer for Women is an achievement that I am immensely proud of. Whilst the award focuses on gender equality, it’s also evidence of our hard work, and real continued commitment, to making AXA UK & Ireland a fairer and more inspiring place to work for everyone.”
“Our listing in the 2021 Times Top 50 Employers for Women demonstrates the progress we’re making towards our diversity and inclusion ambition and is credit to the hard work we have all made over the past twelve months in support of diversity and inclusion.”
We have a strong diversity and inclusion agenda which is sponsored by Tracy Garrad, CEO of AXA Health across UK & Ireland. Tracy chairs a bi-monthly Diversity and Inclusion Board to make sure we’re on track with our approach and keep the leadership team updated. In 2020, we created content specifically for our line managers on the topic of diversity and inclusion and we’ve launched our Inclusive Recruitment module to help hiring managers make the right decisions during the recruitment process. It doesn’t stop there. To make sure diversity and inclusion is championed at all levels, we create resources for all our employees and allies, and our management committee are held accountable through performance related objectives.
This year, AXA also featured on the Bloomberg 2021 Gender Equality Index which highlights companies from across the globe who demonstrate their support for gender equality.
Being named as a Times Top 50 Employer for Women and featuring in the Bloomberg 2021 Gender Equality Index is an honour and reflects the journey we’re on. We’re supportive of a more gender balance future not just for us, but the financial services industry.
