French global insurance group AXA has concluded a European framework agreement on anticipating change in the industry. The group-level framework agreement is to help guide the group’s European companies. This accord has also been used by the group’s subsidiary, AXA Assistance, as the basis of another agreement dealing with major changes in its business model. The agreements, signed on 14 and 30 September respectively, were approved by the social partners on 23 November 2011.
Background
The French insurance group AXA, which has 132,429 employees worldwide, including 78,800 in Europe, concluded the two agreements with negotiators from AXA’s European Works Council (Comité Européen de groupe AXA) and the European Union industry federation UNI Finance. The group-level framework agreement includes a set of nine principles, originally adopted in 2004, to guide the European subsidiaries of the AXA group in managing the process of organisational change. The signatory parties state that they want to:
…pursue dialogue to define actions that will preserve employment and adapt skills to future needs, so that [AXA] can maximise its chances of preserving its core business in Europe while improving its competitiveness.
This agreement was also used as the basis for a separate agreement by the company’s subsidiary, AXA Assistance. Both agreements were officially approved on 23 November 2011 by AXA Chair Henri de Castries, the company’s French representative unions and the European Union industry federation UNI Finance.
Information and consultation
To the EWC
The agreement defines the framework for providing the company’s European Works Council (EWC) with regular information about changes taking place in the industry in which the group operates and how it intends to position itself and develop its activities at the global, European and local levels. The EWC will receive information ‘when necessary and at least once a year’. The EWC also provides a platform for different subsidiaries to announce their strategies. The EWC will monitor the implementation of this agreement and be informed of any agreements signed within the framework of this agreement by group subsidiaries.
To employees
The agreement commits AXA to applying its ‘principles of social dialogue’, adopted in 2004, in the case of major organisational change. Whenever the group’s European subsidiaries make decisions affecting employment, they are all expected to:
…act in such a way as to ensure that adequate information is given to employees and maintain constructive social dialogue.
AXA group members must give employees this information in four agreed stages:
- thinking through the issues before making decisions;
- drawing up an action plan;
- agreeing on how to apply the plan and on its implications;
- implementation and follow up.
This model, says the agreement:
…seeks to contribute to a good understanding of the change process by employees and their representatives, and to the transparency required for each stage.
Creation of observatory
The agreement creates a European Skills and Employment Observatory to map the main jobs in the company and to think about how they are likely to evolve. The Observatory will identify the occupation profiles that are developing, regressing or emerging, and draw up a list of actions to:
- support such changes;
- develop the employability of employees;
- monitor the development of these actions.
The signatories to the agreement prefer to organise cross-cutting entities (such as AXA Assistance, see below) and/or cross-cutting business lines (such as life insurance), rather than creating a global observatory for the whole group.
Annual performance reviews
Each employee will be given an annual performance review, in addition to career development plans that will allow them to be actively involved in shaping their future. AXA has agreed to develop a training policy that offers suitable programmes for preserving or enhancing workers’ employability and to set up a database that will allow employees to apply for jobs anywhere within AXA’s global remit.
Employability measures
The agreement also covers those whose employment is threatened. These people will get a personal interview with HR management to help them plan their future. All internal job vacancies will be published, and priority will be given to redeploying those affected within the subsidiary concerned. After this, jobs will then be notified throughout the company.
The agreement also commits AXA’s subsidiaries to creating measures that support those who choose part-time work or end-of-service arrangements. If necessary, companies could also offer help such as coaching, outplacement, networking, and transition management. Only when all possibilities of redeployment have been exhausted should companies consider using planned redundancy schemes and/or voluntary departure.
Implementation within AXA assistance
AXA Assistance has transposed the framework agreement in order to deal with major changes in its business model and has concluded its own specific agreement. AXA Assistance’s agreement creates its own European Skills and Employment Observatory. It will also launch a European-wide common employment map to facilitate anticipation of competences and internal mobility. This agreement goes further than the framework agreement, for example, with the commitment to organise a phone call between the HR manager and each voluntary candidate for a job within AXA Assistance.
Commentary
These agreements are the result of a long tradition of social dialogue within the AXA group and, according to the signatories, will increase employees’ confidence through the agreements’ commitment to increased openness, planning and maintaining the group’s European employment levels. This is a way of promoting a sustainable strategy for employees, linked to a strategic plan to increase competitiveness.
Frédéric Turlan, HERA