At AXA, supporting working parents while they raise the future generation is part of who we are
Karima Silvent
Global Head of HR @AXA and Chairwoman of Epide (établissement d'insertion pour les jeunes)
On June 1st, we celebrate the Global Parent Day According to the United Nations, “this day provides an opportunity to appreciate all parents in all parts of the world for their selfless commitment to children and their lifelong sacrifice towards nurturing this relationship.” At AXA, we know that our employees have also external activities and responsibilities. Raising a child is a path full of joy, commitment and includes some challenging moments. As an insurer, our mission is to empower people to live a better life, as an employer, we care about our employees and have put several initiatives in place to empower them as working parents so they can enjoy the most of this wonderful personal experience.
A global Parent Policy: wherever you are in the AXA world, whatever your family situation, this policy applies to you
Launched last year, our global parent policy gives all AXA employees the same rights and opportunities when expanding their family. One can be both a parent and a professional and finding a good balance between professional and private life is necessary to our performance and professional fulfillment.
We received enthusiastic feedback from new parents, who particularly enjoyed the main components of this global benefit: a minimum of 16 weeks fully paid maternity or primary parent leave, 4 weeks fully paid paternity or co-parent leave, -also applicable to single parents and same-sex parents-, and the dedicated HR and management support offered before, during and after the period of parent leave.
I am thrilled with the first results. For example, in France, 80% of our employees who welcomed a new child in 2017 took their paternity leave. By encouraging fathers and co-parents to embrace their share of parenthood, we go beyond the stereotype that parenthood is only a women’s matter - which can be perceived as a blocker for women’s careers.
I am proud of this global employee benefit as for many AXA employees it represents a major improvement, particularly for those working in countries where public policies in support of parenthood can be much less favorable than in Europe.
Supporting women before and after maternity leave
We know that returning to work after a maternity leave can be a challenging moment, as the working mothers must juggle their child’s needs and their career. That’s why offering a smooth return to work to women after they have given birth is key for AXA.
In many parts of AXA, like in AXA France, AXA Investment Managers and AXA UK, we provide coaching sessions to new parents. These sessions offer professional tips and advice to ease their return to work after a long leave. This enables employees to achieve a better work life balance.
Supporting working parents
We are fully aware of the extraordinary miracle of the arrival of a new member within a family. For the well-being of our employees; many initiatives across AXA entities offer support to them during this important time in their lives.
A Parenthood charter offering a more family-friendly environment, emergency childcare solutions, special leaves for taking care of sick child and flex work arrangements are among some of the actions supporting working parents.
Welcoming children at work
There is nothing like witnessing the joy of children discovering their parents’ workplace and seeing the pride in their parent’s face when they present their children to their colleagues.
Last year, we organized in the US a “Bring Your Child to Work Day”, bringing together dozens of sons and daughters for a day of meeting AXA leaders, learning business lessons…and selling popcorn. At our headquarters in Paris, a Kid’s Day is organized each year since 2011, offering activities for children around a theme changing yearly.
These are only some of the initiatives across AXA Group supporting our employees who are parents. Many of these practices benefit all employees, not only parents, and contribute to our ambition to be the best place to work.
I wish all parents across the globe a wonderful Global Parent Day.
Family Support Director at Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc
6 年Wonderful benefits for your employees and company. I wish all companies would adopt such policies for families.
Directrice Commerciale
6 年Astrid Laplanche Henry
Empowering Line Managers, Transforming Teams, Shaping the Future: Hacking Workplace Culture from Insight to Impact
6 年Simon W.
Founder & CEO at ''Nine2Five'' Intelligent Choices in Office Leases I
6 年Great initiative