Post-Covid-19: AXA invents novel ‘smart working strategy’

By Zainab Iwayemi

In a bid to incorporate lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic taking into cognizance how it shaped the work environment, Axa, the French multinational insurer, has implemented its smart working strategy in all of its entities worldwide.

The novel strategy seeks to institute a hybrid way of working for its employees as it combines remote work and office presence by enabling employees on a voluntary basis, to work remotely for two days per week.

Accordingly, with changes to be applied by the end of this year affecting over 70 per cent of AXA employees, the global insurer seeks to fully deploy the strategy by 2023

In addition, the smart working strategy will accommodate eligible employees working full-time in the office by choice, depending on their job description.

The insurance provider explained that the decision was prompted by the successful implementation of remote working, which saw 38 per cent of employees regularly working from home prior to the COVID-19 crisis, and 90 per cent of them wishing to increase the practice of remote working in the future.

Karima Silvent, chief human resources officer of AXA said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has been a tipping point in our working methods. Continued investments in our digital transformation made it possible to massively recourse to remote working during the crisis, which confirmed the resilience of our organisation in an unprecedented context. Moreover, this crisis has reminded us of the importance of having places in which we can meet and work together.

“By extending our smart working strategy, we want to adapt our organisation to the post-COVID era and offer our employees a balanced framework that combines the flexibility of remote work, while keeping the office as an important anchor for social interactions and community building. This is a new step in our overall ambition to become one of the best companies to work for,” Silvent explained.

As a conglomerate of independently run businesses the Axa Group operates in Western Europe, North America, the India Pacific region, and the Middle East, with a presence also in Africa. In Nigeria it is a combination business known as Axa Mansard.