Proponents of Peter Drucker’s attestation that culture eats strategy for breakfast are likely unsurprised that the spotlight on workplace culture is getting brighter and sharper by the day. Between rumours of the ‘great resignation’, the concept of ‘quiet quitting’ becoming common parlance and escalating whispers of ‘quiet hiring’ – there’s little doubt that workplace culture is undergoing a revolution.
As with any revolution, however, there remains the worry that its ripple effects may not be reaching those most in need. It’s a concern validated in this instance by research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) which highlights the staggering number of older workers disappearing from the UK’s labour force. Latest statistics reveal there are now over 300,000 more ‘economically inactive’ 50-64-year-olds in the UK than there were at the start of 2020.
It’s a subject that AXA UK’s Emma Harvey (pictured) is passionate about, not least due to the remit of her role as COO for HR which entails supporting people along every step of their AXA journey – from their first interview to their exit interview. Having these extensive touchpoints with this talent pool underscores the power of expertise, experience and deep-rooted knowledge that exists within the insurer, she said, and cements the need for the right initiatives to support older talent.
“To give some context to the issue, over the past few years, the UK has seen a massive change in the way we work,” she said. “We’ve been through Brexit and we’re in a cost-of-living crisis and we’ve seen the impact of the pandemic. What that has meant from a candidate market perspective, is that we’re lacking candidates due to the sheer number of people who have left the workplace… but we’re also facing challenges around the new skill sets that we need both now and in the future.”
Underpinning this are further concerns around salary increases, people looking to take on different careers post-COVID and changing attitudes to both work and workplaces. It’s a perfect storm, Harvey said, and one which AXA takes very seriously as it prides itself on being an inclusive business that wants all its people to thrive at any and every life stage.
“But what we have seen is that we can no longer continue to recruit from the same places that we always have,” she said. “Because the candidates aren’t there and the skill sets aren’t necessarily there, so we need to look for new opportunities. We recognise the huge opportunity we have to tap into the skills and knowledge of the older workforce demographic and to reskill and upskill that population which really isn’t getting much of a look in at the moment.”
AXA’s work supporting the recruiting, retaining and retraining of this older generation of workers is now an integral part of its people strategy. Looking back on how this started, Harvey noted that the ‘lightbulb moment’ for her was recognising the longstanding impacts of current population trends. Younger populations are reducing while the older population is expanding, she said, and people who are now living longer do not necessarily want to retire at the same age they used to.
“But in the UK, we’re not taking advantage of that because there has been a stigma around workers getting older, with the assumption that they’re not interested in their careers, which is absolutely not the case,” she said. “The real game-changing moment for me was realising that we look at diversity in many different ways – be that gender, socio-economic background, ethnicity, disability, etc – but we don’t really look at how to support employees in this age group, at how to retain them, develop them and help them continue their careers.”
Getting older is a fact of life, so it makes sense for everybody to engage with initiatives looking to evolve the opportunity pipeline available to older talent. Spotlighting some of the high-level initiatives put in place by AXA, Harvey noted that it all started with getting the right policies in place, and leaning into the existing supports the insurer has in place around sickness, caring responsibilities, dependency leave, etc.
These are critical to better supporting that older age group, she said, as is the company’s flexible working policy – which includes hybrid working and opportunities for flexible contracts.
“We’re among the first insurers to get the menopause-friendly accreditation, which allows us to give support to those people that are going through menopause and to raise awareness on the help available,” she said. “We’ve got a big initiative called ‘fairer in five’, gathering data around our diversity – with age being one of those metrics – to really understand the makeup of our population today, where we have gaps and how we measure up to external census data.
“We’ve also engaged with a company called 55/Redefined who have helped us do a big data diagnostic into the areas that we need to address as a business to support our older population. What we found was that about 25% of our workforce is in that older age bracket and they feel that they are very able to make decisions, and that they understand where the business is going and what needs to be done, but they feel less motivated and engaged than other members of the workforce.”
The reason for this appears to be that these older workers feel there is a ceiling that develops as they get older, she said, which means they’re not able to progress or develop their careers in the same way. For AXA, this represents an opportunity to engage with this demographic, to empower them through learning and development initiatives and to exemplify the inclusive culture of which the insurer is so proud.
It’s still relatively early days on that engagement piece, Harvey said, but real progress is being made which is already feeding through from the reaction staff have had to the new developments. People want to get engaged with this subject, they want to take advantage of new opportunities and to tackle the challenges all insurance businesses are facing around the attraction, retention and development of great talent.
“I recently had a fantastic email from somebody over 50, who recently joined AXA, just letting me know he couldn’t be happier with the culture and the support he’s had since he joined – not just from the business but from his teammates, some of whom are much younger than him,” she said. “He said he feels completely included which is just brilliant. Getting that kind of feedback is fantastic as it shows how much this is working.
“[That’s] the metric that makes you realise the impression these initiatives can have on individuals, and the impact that small and big changes alike can have in finding people different routes and new ways to be included. That for me is the standout from this, that as a business – as AXA – we’re really delivering what we say around inclusivity, and protecting people and our customers.”
What are your thoughts on AXA UK’s commitments to older workers? Feel free to share them in the comment box below.
