Continuing our series of profiles of those shortlisted for the RAD Awards in January 2023, we spotlight those in the Employee Engagement Award category, sponsored by Talent.com.
The AXA Hello – MSL UK
AXA recognised that the first days in a new business can feel cold and impersonal, with new starters often having to complete hours of compulsory regulatory training. The company created the AXA Hello – a week-long onboarding experience to help people get to know the culture and engage with the business from the start.
New colleagues receive a welcome pack at their home with five gifts to be opened each day of their first week. Each gift was designed to help them settle in, and represented a unique aspect of AXA’s culture. The packaging included a QR code that took colleagues to a unique digital experience bringing that cultural pillar to life. The gifts included a mood lamp speaker (to show a supportive culture); a notebook (encouraging them to note their wellbeing needs); some funky socks (reflecting AXA’s commitment to welcoming difference); a desktop plant (to nurture their ambitions); and aromatherapy (to help them relax and focus on wellbeing).
After months of lockdowns and the introduction of hybrid working, it was invaluable to provide new joiners with a physical touchpoint. Over the first six months the company delivered almost 900 packs, with 886 visitors to the digital experience, and 85,000+ engagements about the pack on social media. Seventy-three percent of new joiners were thrilled to receive the pack; 61% said the content was useful or very useful; and 58% said they felt closer to the AXA brand and purpose.
AXA MOVE – Havas People
One of AXA’s four pillars is that employees should grow their potential. There are 120,000 staff around the business, so this pillar is deeply rooted in internal mobility. Technology has made this easier, but the idea of progression within the business caused concern among some employees because they feared their managers would not support it. MOVE is aimed at enabling employee mobility through an easy-to-use internal job board featuring thousands of roles available at AXA.
To launch MOVE, Havas People created a series of films for AXA. The first showcased the platform, while a second focused on the career story of the project’s main sponsor, group head of talent and learning Amanda Vaughan. A final film saw Amanda discussing the Group’s wider range of career opportunities. Havas People also shot a series of testimonials showing that AXA teammates support each other to move forward within the business.
Book a table at the RADs
Winners will be announced on 26 January at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Alongside the films, it produced a guide for managers outlining how to discuss internal mobility with their teams, and how they could help to make moves happen. Internal mobility was also promoted externally through blogs and interviews on AXA’s careers site. Social templates featuring ‘Movers’ were made available so people could share on LinkedIn. MOVE has also been adopted by a number of AXA entities. Since the launch in September 2021, there have been 363,000 visits to the MOVE platform, 10,700 employee sign-ups, 5,200 opportunities published and almost 3,000 applications made.
Advocacy in Assurance – EY
Assurance at EY is known for delivering audit, advisory and forensic services for clients, but it’s an industry where candidates often have multiple job offers. EY needed to ensure existing employees could become ambassadors for its employer brand. Working with a group of 10 partners, it became clear they were worried about saying the wrong thing, so a more bespoke solution was needed.
EY worked with the group, running workshops on how authenticity and personality can drive engagement. It encouraged them to build their own personal brand, and within three months, the partners had created 39 social posts, gained more than 600 new followers and achieved over 1,500 reactions. On the back of this success, EY expanded the project to include Assurance leadership and management teams. It delivered training to more than 500 attendees and introduced dedicated hashtags to track success.
The company took a sample of 12 participants and found that average reactions to brand posts went from 17 six months prior to 87 after working with them on advocacy. Many have been approached by recruiters or viewers have remarked on the new approach. EY is now expanding the advocacy approach to “Champions for Tax and Law” and “Sustainability Ambassadors”.
Clicks Behind the Bricks – The LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is proud of the diversity of its team and inclusive culture. Although its Behind the Bricks campaign had been showcasing this, the company felt it lacked colleague photography that reflected its authentic, diverse, and characterful workforce. Rather than spending thousands on a worldwide photoshoot, it wanted to do something different.
The Group launched a global photography competition called Behind the LEGO Bricks. It was split into two main categories: the ‘you’ behind the bricks (a selfie theme opened to anyone), and life behind the bricks, aimed at budding amateur photographers. The entries needed to capture diversity and character, LEGO’s values in action, different teams and business areas, and different places and spaces. A launch campaign went live on Yammer and email with a promotional video. Briefing packs were created with hints and tips, and a link to an online portal where colleagues could post their photos.
It brought together an international panel of judges from across the LEGO Group, including staff from employee advocacy groups and the head of diversity and inclusion. Three hundred staff entered the competition, and 900 photos and videos were submitted, from all regions of the business. A celebratory video showcasing the winners was shared across the company.
Onboarding Unlimited! – Autism Unlimited! & CA3
Autism Unlimited (AU) empowers those living with autism through a unique programme of education, care and support. However, the pandemic placed a strain on the funding and resources of the organisation, and it has faced huge challenges attracting and recruiting great people into the social care sector. It was crucial for AU to offer an exceptional onboarding experience – 21% of new employees were leaving the charity within the first three months of employment.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Because starting a new job for a person with autism can be debilitating, AU called upon the support of employees across the charity to create an engaging, inclusive and anxiety-free experience. Welcometoautism-unlimited.org went live in March 2021, with a responsive portal supporting every new hire, their manager, and a work buddy at key moments in the joining process. Each new hire has a clearly defined and personalised onboarding process with a checklist of tasks, supported by global content and social touchpoints.
After the first day, the system ensures everything happens when it should, including a 12-week training and induction programme that’s detailed on the portal. Since the portal went live it has onboarded 224 new hires with a 97% engagement rate. More than 90% of line managers have used it to support onboarding, helping to create a sense of belonging in a human way. The experience has also had a direct effect on voluntary attrition – AU tracked a 5% reduction in attrition in the first three months (from 21% to 16%) a year after going live.
