Plenary meeting on 24 November 2022
12.01.2023
On 24 November 2022, the AXA Group's European Works Council met for its November plenary session in the Paris region.
Koen Hermans, head of the AXA Group's social relationsp and Hedi ben Sedrine, secretary of the AXA EWC, welcomed the committee's delegates, the Swiss and Japanese delegations, who were present as non-European observers, as well as the social relations managers of AXA's international entities.
Thomas Buberl, CEO of the Group, noted that there have been more changes in the last 10 months than in the last 10 years. The context is difficult because of inflation, natural disasters (as numerous in Europe as in the USA for the first time) and the ecological transition imposed by the climate crisis.
Employees remain very committed and the Group continues its post-covid transformation, with a new work and leadership model, still in the process of finding its balance, and reorganisations at AXA Partners and AXA GO. The group has never been so strong, thanks to its strategy of moving from a life insurer to a property and casualty insurer.
Hedi Ben Sedrine recalled Thomas Buberl's request at the November 2021 plenary for a workload analysis. Pascale Rauline, Deputy Secretary, led the analysis of the situation in the insurance sector and in the AXA company. The results of this analysis show discrepancies between the employee experience desired by management and the reality on the ground, particularly with regard to autonomy, respect for and exercise of the right to disconnect, excessive pressure, and too few HR teams.
For Pascale Rauline, Deputy Secretary, since the early 2000s, regulatory, societal and technological changes have profoundly altered the way people work and have changed the role of managers in the insurance sector. This has led to resistance and employees not always being prepared. The AXA Group has also undergone a change in its business model, which has led to changes in the need for skills and know-how. The pandemic has accelerated the introduction of homeworking, which has revolutionised the role of managers and required new skills.
Hedi Ben Sedrine stressed that the findings revealed by the discussions with the delegates are representative of the problems encountered in the various AXA entities. Thomas Buberl indicated that these problems require a cultural evolution and that he is interested in management practices in other large groups. He specified that the role of managers is no longer to control but to help teams to evolve and to arbitrate as a last resort.
Delphine Icart, CEO of DHP, then presented a health ecosystem designed to improve our customers' health care. DHP has partnered with Microsoft in 2019 to create a collaborative ecosystem between healthcare players to facilitate the patient journey, using technology solutions for self-diagnosis, teleconsultation, data management and care pathway orchestration. AXA is a 100% shareholder in DHP and co-invests with Microsoft. The countries most involved are Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium, UK and Switzerland.
Koen Hermans recalls that AXA, as a leader in its sector, is committed to developing solutions to reduce climate risks. Antoine Denoix, CEO of AXA Climate, presents a progress report on the activity of this entity. Launched in 2019, AXA Climate, which draws on the Group's experience in parametric business, is at the heart of the Climate strategy part of the AXA Group's Driving Progress 2023 plan. By 2021, AXA Climate has developed a training ecosystem to train more than 4 million employees, and a consulting service for agricultural businesses. AXA Climate's expertise includes parametric insurance, training and consulting. The next step is to use risk modelling to convince investors to include agricultural companies in their portfolios.
Hedi Ben Sedrine and Koen Hermans thank all participants and look forward to seeing them on 21, 22 and 23 June 2023.
Find here the secretariat's summary and the summary of the questions and answers: