As France’s Disabled Employment Week kicks off, Aviva France announces the signing, with its management and labour representatives, of a three-year agreement for disabled workers.
As France’s Disabled Employment Week kicks off, Aviva France announces the signing, with its management and labour representatives, of a three-year agreement for disabled workers. Aviva France will also be playing an active part in this week of awareness raising, organising several activities geared towards disabled workers and Aviva employees.
A three-year agreement
The Aviva management and all the Aviva France unions have signed a three-year agreement (2009-2011) to promote the integration and continued employment of disabled workers.
This agreement should enable Aviva France to achieve its target of having 3% disabled employees by three years’ time, and is based on the following commitments:
- Facilitate the employment of workers with disabilities
For each year, Aviva France has defined a precise target for the recruitment of disabled workers and is committed to offering vacant positions to all suitably qualified candidates, disabled or not, without discrimination.
Aviva has established links with a number of partners (CAP EMPLOI, AGEFIPH, ADAPT, MDPH), with a view to increasing the recruitment of disabled staff. Aviva will also develop relationships with schools and universities to promote the hiring of disabled workers. - Keep disabled workers in employment
Aviva France is pursuing its policy of adapting certain jobs in order to enable workers with disabilities to stay with the company. Thus, Aviva France is committed to reviewing working arrangements to improve the daily lives of disabled employees. For example, it will be made easier to work remotely, to give workers with disabilities greater flexibility. Another example is the renewal, for 2010, of Aviva’s partnership with Tadeo, the communication platform between hearing and deaf or hard-of-hearing employees. - Promote the recognition of disability
In order to increase recognition of the status of disabled workers, Aviva France has agreed to implement a series of measures to support the workers concerned: assistance with administrative formalities, help with the preparation of applications, arrangement of specific working hours, paid leave for making additional arrangements.
- Raise awareness and inform
General information about Aviva France’s policy to promote the employment of disabled people will be circulated to all employees. Internal meetings will be held on this theme and a disability training programme will be organised. - Step up internal resources dedicated to disability
Aviva France has agreed to devote more internal resources to disability. A “diversity team” will be entrusted with leading and following up the various activities to be implemented within the framework of the three-year agreement. - Strengthen links with the sheltered employment sector
Aviva France hopes to open up its procurement department to the sheltered employment sector by performing a procurement diagnosis, training its procurement team and setting up a database of companies approved by ESAT, a French organisation that helps disabled people back into work.
Active participation in Disabled Employment Week
During France’s Disabled Employment Week, which runs from 16 to 22 November 2009, Aviva France is organising several activities geared towards disabled workers and Aviva employees.
- Attendance of the Disabled Employment Forum
Aviva will attend the Disabled Employment Forum organised by the Association for the Social and Professional Integration of Disabled People (ADAPT) on 18 November, in Paris. Aviva recruiters will be at the event to present vacant positions and guide those interested through the application process. - Activities to raise the awareness of Aviva employees
Aviva will also be holding two awareness-raising days for its employees, at the Group headquarters in Bois-Colombes:- Staff based at the HQ will be invited to watch a theatre production that will address issues related to the recruitment and integration of disabled workers in a company.
- Aviva employees will also have the opportunity to take part in a variety of workshops (physically challenged writing games, sign language training, a quiz with prizes, etc) designed to raise their awareness of disability.
Aviva employees in the regions will also be involved: a summary of the theatre play will be made available on the Aviva intranet and the quiz will be reproduced.
Disability at the heart of Aviva’s diversity policy
The Aviva group has been promoting social responsibility for several years now. Aviva France confirms this commitment by drawing on differences and combating discrimination at work by exploring four main areas: disability, ethnic origin, gender and age.
As part of this policy, in October 2007, Aviva France signed the Diversity Charter. In spring 2009, two audits of the internal perception of diversity and disability were carried out to raise the awareness of Aviva France employees about these issues and ensure that concrete progress is made in this area. This diagnosis, which served as the basis for discussions between the Human Resources Department and management and labour representatives, resulted in the signing of the three-year agreement.
Jean-Pierre Menanteau, CEO of Aviva France, said: “The unanimous signing of a three-year agreement for the integration and continued employment of disabled workers marks a new stage of shared progress at Aviva France, on a subject that’s important for any company, but even more so for an insurance company, which must set an example.
"It’s up to us all to make it a real success and a source of pride for all our employees, by improving our attitude and implementing this agreement with determination, so that the recruitment of employees with disabilities becomes increasingly common. In addition, thinking about ways of improving the working conditions of disabled workers should result in improved working conditions for everyone.”
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Press contacts:
Estelle Joubert
Aviva
Telephone: +33 (0)1 7662 5786
E-mail: estelle_joubert@aviva.fr
Valérie Dudoit
HDL Communication
Telephone: +33 (0)1 5865 2016
E-mail: vdudoit@hdlcom.com
Notes to editors:
About Aviva
Aviva is the world’s fifth-largest insurance group*, with 50 million customers across Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region. Aviva’s principal business activities are: life insurance and long-term savings, fund management and general insurance. At 31 December 2008, Aviva had total turnover of €64.3 billion, with €393 billion of assets under management. Aviva is the largest insurer in the UK and one of the leading providers of life insurance and pension products in Europe. A selection of images and all the press releases from the Aviva Group are available in the press area www.aviva.com/media.
With more than 180 years’ experience in France, Aviva is among the top ten players in the insurance market. Aviva France operates a balanced multi-distribution model based on a comprehensive range of products, mainly intended for individuals and SMEs.
Some 900 general agents, 1,800 branch staff, 400 life insurance advisers, almost 900 wealth management advisers (Union Financière de France) and more than 1,000 active partner brokers are at the service of 3 million clients every day. Aviva has developed unique expertise in building effective partnerships for the benefit of its clients, particularly with AFER, the largest savings association in France, and the Crédit du Nord, Société Générale and Ford groups.
Specialising in unit-linked products, Aviva is recognised for the excellent performance of its long-term funds, the quality and innovation of its products, and solid commitment to its customers through its Good Advice approach.
Aviva France is a socially responsible company and has developed initiatives that include reducing and neutralising its CO2 emissions, supporting more than 250 projects to help children and the elderly through the Aviva Foundation, and implementing an acclaimed diversity policy.
The Aviva Group directly employs more than 4,700 staff in France.
At 31 December 2008, Aviva France reported consolidated sales of €6.0 billion and an IFRS-based net profit of €130 million. The company had €69.6 billion of assets under management at 31 December 2008.
* Based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2008.