Introduction
Get an inside look at how AXA UK created and innovated its industry-leading Accessibility Concierge service.
Join this session with Nicki Kelly, Workplace Accessibility Specialist, and Jen Manuel, Talent Acquisition Partner, as they tell AXA’s story.
Making recruitment inclusive for all
Learn about AXA’s effective strategies for making recruitment inclusive for individuals with disabilities or long-term conditions.
Hear directly from the AXA panel and find out how to help candidates perform their best throughout the recruitment process.
Meet the Speakers – Nicki Kelly & Jen Manuel
Nicki Kelly is a Workplace Accessibility Specialist at AXA UK and has lived experience of living with a disability. Nicki’s noteworthy experience expands across financial services, creative industries, and the third sector. Since working at AXA, Nicki has led on significant positive change to AXA’s approach to workplace adjustments and accessibility for employees.
Jen Manuel is an experienced Talent Acquisition Partner and has been with AXA UK for over 17 years. Diagnosed with MS in 2015, Jen has a personal passion and interest around disabilities and long-term conditions in recruitment. She created AXA UK’s Accessibility Concierge service, which has been nominated and shortlisted for multiple industry awards (including Business Disability Form’s Disability Smart Awards 2024).
Watch the full webinar here:
Webinar Summary
What is the Accessibility Concierge Service at AXA?
The Accessibility Concierge Service at AXA is a fantastic initiative aimed at helping candidates with disabilities and long-term conditions feel supported throughout their recruitment and onboarding journey. What makes this service so special is that it proactively offers adjustments to make every step of the hiring process more accessible, starting from the moment you submit an application all the way to your first day on the job. Developed by AXA’s Talent Acquisition Partner, Jen Manuel, this service was created to meet the unique needs of candidates with diverse abilities. AXA want candidates to feel comfortable and empowered as they navigate what can be a stressful experience—applying for and beginning a new job.
The service includes accommodations such as extended time for assessments, providing interview questions in advance, and personalised support from an accessibility concierge team. Notably, AXA’s approach is flexible, evolving based on feedback and lessons learned from each candidate’s experience. This service has been recognised externally, earning multiple award nominations and establishing AXA as a leader in inclusive recruitment. By implementing this concierge service, AXA reinforces its commitment to accessibility, creating a more equitable hiring process and strengthening its reputation as an inclusive employer.
What inspired AXA to create the Accessibility Concierge Service?
AXA’s commitment to being one of the most inclusive employers in the UK inspired the creation of the Accessibility Concierge Service. To attract top talent, they needed to provide accessible options that make candidates feel empowered to perform at their best. This inspiration stemmed from AXA’s culture of trust and inclusivity, and a review of their recruitment practices which highlighted opportunities for improvement in supporting candidates with disabilities.
With input support and research, AXA identified specific points in the recruitment process that could pose challenges for individuals with disabilities or long-term health conditions. Jen, with her personal passion for accessibility, took on the task of building the concierge service from scratch. By offering support, guidance, and accommodations for each candidate, AXA was able to create a more inclusive hiring experience. The service enables candidates to focus on showcasing their skills and experience, rather than being hindered by unnecessary barriers. AXA’s commitment to providing an inclusive environment, and the proactive approach demonstrated by this service, not only fosters a supportive hiring process but also contributes to an organisational culture that values and respects diverse needs.
How has the Accessibility Concierge Service impacted recruitment and onboarding?
The impact of the Accessibility Concierge Service on recruitment and onboarding has been substantial, positively affecting candidates’ experience and expanding the pool of talent AXA can attract. Since the service’s introduction, over 150 candidates have utilised it, with roughly 20% securing job offers. This statistic speaks to the service’s success in leveling the playing field by providing necessary accommodations that help candidates excel in interviews and assessments. In recruitment, candidates have shared overwhelmingly positive feedback, with some noting that AXA is the only employer to ask about and accommodate their disability during the hiring process.
In terms of onboarding, AXA’s proactive approach ensures that accommodations are in place from day one, enabling new hires to begin their roles with confidence. The onboarding process includes a workplace needs assessment and tailored questions about technology and accessibility, allowing AXA to provide necessary support, such as screen readers or large print documents. This early support system alleviates the potential anxieties a new employee might face, letting them focus on adjusting to the role and connecting with their team. By setting up an environment where new hires feel welcome and supported, AXA strengthens its inclusive culture and enables long-term employee success from the outset.
What are practical examples of adjustments provided during recruitment?
AXA’s recruitment process includes several practical adjustments designed to accommodate the diverse needs of candidates, especially those with disabilities or long-term conditions. For instance, some candidates are given additional time to complete their interviews, a change that allows individuals to perform without feeling rushed or stressed due to limitations related to their condition.
Additionally, AXA collaborates with third-party service providers like Arctic Shores, who offer behavioral assessments. Through Arctic Shores, AXA can tailor assessments to take into account candidates’ unique needs, adjusting the scoring for candidates who may encounter challenges related to their disability. This collaboration helps ensure that the assessments reflect the candidate’s potential and fit for the role, rather than simply their performance under a standardised format. These adjustments are easy to implement, yet they make a world of difference.
How does AXA support candidates with neurodivergent needs?
The Accessibility Concierge Service is designed with flexibility to support candidates with neurodivergent needs, allowing for tailored accommodations based on each person’s unique requirements. For example, AXA can arrange for candidates to receive interview questions in advance, enabling them to process and prepare answers without being pressured to respond immediately. Candidates can also request additional time for assessments or ask for modifications in the assessment process itself. For neurodivergent candidates who may find certain social cues, like eye contact, challenging, AXA educates interviewers and hiring managers about accommodating these differences, ensuring a comfortable interview environment.
One standout feature of the service is its personalised approach; candidates do not need to disclose specific diagnoses but simply communicate what accommodations they need to succeed. By focusing on how they can support the candidate’s thinking and communication style, AXA ensures each candidate has the tools to present their qualifications and capabilities. The team is also trained to manage these accommodations with empathy and understanding, creating a recruitment process that honors each person’s individuality while maintaining AXA’s inclusive values.
How do AXA’s inclusive recruitment practices support career progression?
AXA’s inclusive recruitment practices create a strong foundation for long-term career growth by ensuring new hires feel empowered from the start. From the onboarding stage, candidates are set up with necessary adjustments, such as assistive technology or customised seating arrangements, based on their individual needs. AXA also conducts workplace assessments and encourages employees to create tailored adjustment plans. This approach makes it easier for employees to communicate their needs to new managers when they change roles or responsibilities within the organisation.
As employees advance in their careers, AXA reviews their adjustment needs through regular one-on-one discussions and professional development meetings. Managers are trained to actively discuss and address accessibility requirements, supporting employees in adapting their roles or workplaces as their needs evolve. This ongoing support removes common barriers faced by people with disabilities, allowing them to grow professionally with fewer obstacles. AXA’s approach emphasises the importance of enabling every employee to thrive, not only in their current role but also in future positions within the company.
What are some mistakes companies make in inclusive hiring?
Nicki Kelly shared that one common mistake in inclusive hiring is assuming that providing accommodations, such as sharing interview questions in advance, offers an unfair advantage. In reality, this practice simply levels the playing field, giving candidates with disabilities an opportunity to perform at their best without additional stress. Another common pitfall is relying too heavily on standardised assessments that may not reflect the day-to-day responsibilities of the role. If assessments are misaligned with actual job requirements, they can unfairly exclude qualified candidates.
A growing concern is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment. Although AI can be efficient, it often inadvertently discriminates against people with disabilities if not carefully monitored and customised. For companies eager to adopt AI tools, Nicki advises a cautious, well-researched approach to ensure that these technologies do not unintentionally exclude candidates with protected characteristics. By focusing on practices that genuinely measure candidates’ ability to perform in the role, companies can avoid these common pitfalls and create a more inclusive hiring process.
How does AXA measure the success of inclusive recruitment?
AXA measures the success of its inclusive recruitment strategy through a blend of quantitative and qualitative data. One of the primary metrics used is the conversion rate of candidates who access the Accessibility Concierge Service and go on to receive job offers. Approximately 20% of these candidates secure roles at AXA, demonstrating the program’s effectiveness in creating an equitable recruitment process. AXA also regularly solicits feedback from candidates, using this input to refine the Accessibility Concierge Service and better understand the experiences of candidates with disabilities.
In addition to candidate metrics, AXA’s efforts are aligned with its disability-confident leader status, a designation that highlights its commitment to creating a supportive environment for all employees. Feedback from external partners and internal evaluations also play a role in measuring success. Furthermore, Jen revealed that AXA recently upgraded its applicant tracking system (ATS) with inclusivity features, allowing for more precise reporting on candidates’ experiences. These insights will guide AXA’s future inclusive recruitment initiatives, helping the company continuously improve its practices.
We asked both Jen and Nicki for one practical takeaway that AXA wants attendees to remember about inclusive recruitment, here’s what they said:
Nicki: “It’s all around being proactive, and asking candidates that every single stage. But what’s also important as part of that is ensuring, candidates know what that is. So it’s going to be a competency-based interview. It’s going to be a written test because you need to know what you’re doing in order to know what adjustments you need. So be proactive ask and also give that information so that people can tell you what they need.
It’s not about understanding what someone’s disability is, it’s about asking: “What adjustments do you need?” because, you know, in many cases and with the work that I do on a day-to-day, the disability, if someone tells me they’ve got this condition, it really doesn’t matter. I need to understand how it impacts you and what I can do to reduce or remove those barriers. So, knowing what someone’s disability is, isn’t what I’m looking for. It’s understanding what your challenges are and what we can do to help you overcome those.”
Jen: “It links back to the point that I made earlier about the accessibility concierge never being finished. It’s a continual learning and knowing that I don’t know everything. I don’t know all the answers, and I never will. So, it’s about using the Network around you. I’m really lucky that I’ve got that within AXA UK, as a company, but we still pull on other external resources. For example, the business disability forum who we’re a member of, they have got such a vast realm of knowledge and you can call their helpline and they can give you guidance and assistance.
There’s loads of information available online. There’s other expert’s webinars that you can go to. So, I would say don’t put pressure on yourself, to always know the answer as long as you are asking good questions with genuine intent and trying to do the right thing by candidates, you can’t go far wrong.”
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Read the Transcript
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00:00:13
Hello everyone and welcome to skill sessions. I can already see that. We’ve got some activity in the chat. So if you’d like to join the conversation, there is a chat button at the top of your screen right here. In Microsoft teams, please let us know whether you’re a first-time attendee to skill sessions.
00:00:34
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00:01:05
Douglas not. So Sunny Glasgow. Yeah. I feel you. Douglas. We have a first-time attendee from the AXA office, in sunny, Red Hill and very jealous. Welcome Bath London. A wet Nottinghamshire from Stevie, we’re dry at the moment in Bristol, so I’m hoping that that stays there stays the same. John, welcome, Susie. Hi Susie. And I’ve met you before. Welcome, thank you for joining.
00:01:34
Skill sessions. Jennifer. Hi from Hampshire, not in should too wonderful. Thank you all so much for joining us today. Just going to leave a couple minutes people to enter the webinar. So again, if you’ve just joined the chat button is right at the top in Microsoft. Teens asking you to Something in the chat and less. No way of joining from today. My name is Claire and hosting from Bristol.
00:02:01
Another London. Do we have any International audiences joining us today Lawns Kirk Kirkby Lonsdale Swindon just down the road?
00:02:15
Nottingham sure London so far all UK Stafford London.
00:02:22
Wonderful. Thanks for joining us and I have a question in the chat which says I am unsure what this is for . So let me let me tell you all about skill sessions. I’ll do a bit of housekeeping for you. So that if you’re new and you’re first time into skill sessions, you have an understanding as to why we host these events and the intention of these events as well. So today, if you’ve joined us, Skill Sessions event before we’re normally on Zoo m this time when Microsoft team. So not only is it our first,
00:02:51
First skill sessions event, in Microsoft teams, but it’s also our first panel discussion in the event series, which is super exciting will be welcoming Nicki Kelly and Jen man. Wow, from AXA UK to talk about inclusive recruitment. So, AXA, if you’re not familiar there, one of the world’s largest insurance companies and they proud to be a disability confident employer, they’ve got more than 10,000 employees, at their UK, paresh.
00:03:18
Now, as a disability confident employer, AXA UK, or for all possible candidates support, and access to the industry-leading accessibility concierge service, which will hear more about a little later. And, but before we get stuck in our panel today, I just want to welcome all of you to skill sessions and just a caveat with, I’ve experienced a bit of cold this past week. So if I sound a bit, bunged up, I apologize. You don’t have to listen to me talk for the next 50 minutes. So,
00:03:48
Strap in. And thank you for your patience. And so when you’re brand-new to this webinar, or you’ve been with us before, welcome, thank you for coming along. We’ve been running these events for about 18 months now and there’s a community of almost 2000 of you, which is huge. And the objective of these events is to bring you experts and speakers on a range of topics around inclusion and your diversity in the workplace. And you can always find the latest events on either the carescribe.
00:04:18
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00:04:47
So I’ve taught you about that skill sessions. Who are we? Who am I? My name is Claire. And I work at a company called carescribe and where the organization that makes these events happen. We’re an award-winning software company based in Bristol and we create assistive Tech to help people who are neurodivergent or who have disabilities to be more productive and to be more confident in their work or in their studies.
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00:05:44
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00:05:59
Now, before I introduce you to our guest speakers today, just want to let you know how to get the most from this webinar. Really appreciate you spending the afternoon for with us and it’s next hour. So first thing to share is that we’re going to send a survey out in the chat towards the end of the session where you can let us know how you found the event. And you can also request a certificate of attendance if you feel like that would be helpful. And we also really encourage you to join in the chat and talk with other people in the course.
00:06:29
I’ve hosted these for a few months now and the community, which we built up and the engagement between everyone, in the chat is really where the essence of these events come alive. So if you want to join in the chat, when Microsoft teams, that might be new. For some of you, there was a chat button at the top of your screen, just click on that and you should see a panel cover up on the side of your screen. And I do appreciate this. Some people on this call may find that distracting. So if you need to, you can turn off
00:06:59
The chat bubbles just had two more at the top of the screen hit settings and then hide chat Bubbles. And if you have any questions for Nicki or Jen, obviously this is a panel discussion. I would really encourage you and invite you to put your questions to Nicki and Jen during the next 50 minutes. So, you’ll notice again, top of your screen, there was a Q&A section. Please, if you have any questions at all, remember to add.
00:07:29
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00:07:59
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00:08:06
Right. That’s enough of the housekeeping. I’m going to introduce you to the AXA UK panel, who are joining us for today’s event. So join us has access workplace accessibility specialist Nicki Kelly and AXA’s Talent acquisition partner. Jen Manuel. So while they join us on the screen, I’m going to give you a brief introduction and take a sip of water.
00:08:33
Hi both. Hello, how are you doing?
00:08:36
Hi Claire. Good. Thank you
00:08:37
Hi everyone , hello
00:08:40
Thank you – right I’ll do a bit of an introduction to the both of you. So and since working at AXA Nicki has led on some really significant positive change to access approach to workplace adjustments and accessibility for employees and Nicki is personal Journey, includes living with a disability and her valuable
00:09:03
Experiences and Compass Financial Services, creative Industries and the third sector. So it’s a pleasure to have you with us today. Nicki and Jen, Jen is an experienced Talent acquisition partner and has been with AXA for over 17 years,
00:09:18
Nicki Nicki Jen. Jen was diagnosed with MS and 2015. So, she has a very personal passion and interest in disabilities and long-term conditions when it comes to Recruitment and Jen created the now widely recognized accessibility concierge service which has been nominated and shortlisted for multiple industry Awards, including the business disability forum and disability smart Awards in 2024, which is huge
00:09:48
Achievement. So if anyone’s going to teach us today over the next 50 minutes, how to make our recruitment process is more accessible and more inclusive. I think it’s these two that are joining us on the call, so hi against Nicki. Hi, again to Jen, please do a personal introduction. And please tell us will share with you audience, why accessibility and inclusion matters to you personally?
00:10:14
Yeah, I was jump in. So hi everyone. I’m Nicki Kelly. And the reason why this means so much to me is when I was 22, I suddenly lost a lot of sight, and at the time I was told that I couldn’t work and, you know, for a short period of time, I did actually believe that, but then when I got access to assistive technology, got a better understanding of adjustments. And there were put in place, it completely changed my life and, you know, allowed me to continue to work and
00:10:44
and then, you know, get back on track with my career goals. So it’s important to me because it changes people’s lives. And, you know, it enables people to do what they want to do. And sometimes we have to do it differently due to a disabilities, but we can still achieve our goals and, you know, if I can do anything to help people see that or help them to achieve that, that’s that’s absolutely what it’s important to me.
00:11:12
Thank you Nicki. It’s interesting how you said like approaching it differently, but you can still work just a different as far as accommodations and Jen. How about yourself?
00:11:23
Yeah. Hello. I’m Jen Manuel. I am as Claire said, ta partner for AXA UK. I was thinking, it’s nearly 18 years now. It’s gone really quick. I’m in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It is not Sunny. Tony today is very gray outside.
00:11:40
Why does accessibility and inclusion matter to me? Personally, as you said Claire, I was diagnosed with Ms. Back in 2015. So nearly 10 years ago now and what I recognize is one of the biggest hurdles with any health condition is accessing help and having someone like you, someone who gets what it’s like and who you can be 100% yourself with is really hard to find. I worked hard to build my network that was done with the intention. That I’d be the person.
00:12:10
In supporting others in the future.
00:12:14
Jen, I’ve got a follow-up question for you. You may want to collaborate which is so your personal experiences, some shaping, how they shaped the work that you do to support individuals. Can you elaborate on that a bit more for me.
00:12:28
So I’m able to bring the Insight both from a personal perspective but also using my business knowledge as well and my time within Financial Services to really make sure the candidate experience is always at the center of
00:12:44
what we’re doing at AXA and I recognize that having a disability or a long-term condition is hard enough. Then you layer that with the stress of applying for a new job. Oh that’s. That’s a whole kind of swirling pool of emotions and all sorts of things. So it really drives me to make sure we’re continuously, improving our candidate experience for those with disabilities and long-term conditions.
00:13:09
Yeah. You’re so right? Jen, that is a, it’s stressful.
00:13:15
Anyone going through that process, isn’t it? It’s quite such a, it’s such a work, such a huge part of people’s people’s lives. So in totally hear you on that and Nicki how about yourself, how have your personal experiences shaped that the work that you do ?
00:13:29
It’s shapes it in many ways because, you know, I think it’s, you know, who has been quite passionate, but I think it has given me more passion because I can see the difference of experience of difference. It makes the People by getting those adjustments and sir
00:13:44
So it just has shaped it in that way to make sure that I can, you know, provide that and talk about it every possible opportunity because a lot of people you don’t know what you don’t know. And you learned so much from other people that are in similar situations as Jen said. And so you know it’s it’s been a voice and you know being in amongst the community that that really helps shape what I do.
00:14:14
And how I do it and helping others to do it as well.
00:14:17
Yeah, I think that sort of lived experience that you have Nicki will really resonate with people going through that process as well as super, super important. And so, we’re here today, you’ve joined us today to talk about inclusive Recruitment and to talk about AXA’s accessibility concierge service. So should we just start off with our seeing the questions that everyone on the court understands and knows Jen? Going to ask this to you can you tell us what is the accessibility concierge service
00:14:47
Sure. So it is as you mentioned earlier, Claire, an industry-leading service. There’s no one out there doing this sort of thing when I created it. I had to build it from scratch. So what it does is it proactively offers and implements adjustments for candidates from application, right through to day one of employment. And it was specifically created to support and encourage those with disabilities and long-term
00:15:14
conditions needing adjustments to apply for jobs, AXA UK. You said it has been nominated and shortlisted for multiple external Awards, which was super proud of any of you who are connected to Nicki and myself on LinkedIn. Will see some lovely pictures from earlier this year. When we’re at the awards ceremony, we got all dressed up. It was really fancy, and we were so proud to be a finalist. It’s great to have that external recognition and approval in some ways that we’re doing the right.
00:15:44
Right thing. So, yeah, it’s wonderful. What we’ve recognized is typically adjustments are very reasonable easy to implement and they don’t cost anything. And it’s something that we’ll talk about more as we go on and go into the detail of what the service is, and how it works. And what benefits, it’s brought.
00:16:02
Yeah n ice like, what a fantastic Testament to the work that you’ve done, AXA to be winning these Awards. Like, what, a, what a imagine, where assume or proud moment for you and your work where Jen, you said, you said you built. I’m just curious how long it took to sort of get it off the ground if you built it from scratch. Was that quite a significant time?
00:16:27
Yeah, it did take a quite a few months to get in place. I’m really lucky at AXA that I have a raft of colleagues around me who are all experts in different things. So I was able to pull on their knowledge and experience to help me answer those questions that I needed.
00:16:44
I was pulling together the service and when we first ran it we actually did it in a pilot phase, a bit of a test and learn agile approach because we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We weren’t sure how many people were going to put their hand up and say yes to it and what scale that would bring it certainly has grown and developed an art or share some of the stats with you later on but to give you a bit of context I saw one of my colleagues who worked with me on the concierge service. Leanne drop into this call. There may well be
00:17:14
Jasmine and Lauren on the call aswell, if they are hello to you, that gives you some indication as well. That in addition to our BAU workers, Talent, acquisition Partners or Consultants. I’ve needed to get three other colleagues to help me with managing the queries that were getting and giving candidates the best possible service. We can.
00:17:35
Yeah, three other colleagues. It just goes to prove that appetite for this Jen and also the scope of work required, to bring this, bring this to life people and fantastic. That you could get, it’s off the ground within a few months or half expecting you to say, it took a few years to bring it to fruition because, you know, quite big companies, previous talks that we’ve had. Its there’s been not red tape necessarily, but there’s so much process involved that it’s taken people. Quite a lot of time to get things off the ground, but it’s really inspiring to hear that. Just took a took a few months time to really get that action. And I suppose it goes
00:18:14
To prove just how much support you had internally for. Yeah, but the conceirge service is very lucky to have that in place.
00:18:21
And, and one thing I would share and something, I wish I’d known at the start. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself Jen. This is never going to be finished. It was it will always have bit, you can add to it things. You can do differently, other ideas, that you get feedback that you want to act on it will never be a completely finished product. It will always be evolving and growing and that’s
00:18:44
That’s exciting in itself. It keeps it fresh to work on.
00:18:49
Jen I think that’s the most prudent. Broadly applicable advice I’ve ever heard someone share and let’s go sessions cool. Like yes these projects are huge and you’ll always want to improve. And so, yes it won’t. It will never be finished and also, that’s okay. Yes. Ok to accept that. Yeah. Really wonderful hearing you say that and I’m curious to know what inspired you to create the service. Can you talk to me about the sort of story of how it came about? I wonder Nicki. If you can shed a bit of light, on that for me then
00:19:21
Of course at AXA we’ve got a culture of trust and one of our biggest and aims is to be one of the most accessible and inclusive Employers in the UK and be a place where everyone can Thrive. So as part of that we did some, we did a, I guess we did some reviews of our Improvement processes to see, you know what we doing? Well, what aren’t we doing?
00:19:49
Well, where do we need to improve? And so, as part of that, it was identified, that we could do more to help people with disabilities are long-term conditions along the recruitment process. So we use a specialist recruitment agency to help us review all of this. And then what we did to enhance that approach Jen to being the amazing person she is. She created the accessibility conceirge service,
00:20:19
And so with that what she wanted to do, she designed it from scratch to ensure that candidates with disabilities or long-term conditions could have the reasonable adjustments to apply for our roles. Because as Jen mentioned earlier you know it can be quite stressful when you’re going through those situations and we want to take that away from that process so that people can just focus on putting their best foot forward. And so the reason it was created was to improve our recruitment processes but also to ensure that we
00:20:49
We make sure that we can enable candidates to put their best foot forward from right that recruitment process. And this is what the accessibility concierge enabled us to do.
00:20:59
It has that from all of those things are the intention around why the service was created. And maybe Jen, you can ask this question, I’m curious to know about the impact that that’s had on Recruitment and onboarding. Obviously, you had that intent and that objective, but has that, what’s the impact that it’s had?
00:21:17
Yeah, so from a recruitment perspective, this proactive approach to adjustments has meant, we’ve had over 150 candidates access the accessibility concierge service, and we track how many people are offered a job who come through the service, and it’s roughly about 20 percent. So one in five approx offered a role that AXA and Nicki. I know you may have some points around the onboarding process.
00:21:46
Yeah. So what’s really important as well? Because you know what we do, find someone might need adjustments throughout the recruitment process and then need that when their onboarding, or the other way around where they don’t need something, while the going through the interview process. But as soon as they come in, but it’s determined that they need. So, so what we do as part of our onboarding process, you know, when you’re feeling in or your bank details Etc with added questions to that. So you
00:22:15
No. What what Systems Technology do you need? Because we want to get that in place for you on day one, so that you can just focus on getting to know your colleagues getting to know your job and not having that worry and concern about. Gosh, it is my screen reader going to be in place so I can start and actually do the work. So as part of our onboarding process as well, we asked those questions. So that for day one, if we can’t get it on day one, it’s for week one. So that they could just focus on getting to know their role.
00:22:45
You getting to know their colleagues because you know people might not need adjustments at every stage, but it’s making sure that we’re asking at every stage to ensure that everyone can get what they need.
00:22:57
Yeah, that’s again. Coming to the sort of the things that we were discussing at the start the Stress and Anxiety. When you, when you start a new role of in, in a new company. If you can take through the accessibility concierge service through the onboarding, if You can lift some of that weight or anxiety for people by asking those questions up front. Actually I would have had had a very significant impact for people and I’m curious to know a bit more about the recruitment process. Jen and can you share some tangible practical examples of how the recruitment process AXA has been adapted to accommodate some different needs?
00:23:45
I think that would be those practical example would be really helpful for people joining us on the call today, just to bring it to life a bit more.
00:23:52
No worry. So, I’ve got a couple of real life examples that I can share with you. So, first candidate old talk about the accessibility. Concierge worked with arctic Shores, who are one of our partners? They offer a behavioral based assessment tool. And what we did is we work with them to have the assessment that just stood before the candidate completed, it.
00:24:15
The scoring took into consideration, any challenges that that candidate May encounter and we also offered them additional time for a roleplay element of their video interview as well. We had some great feedback from this candidate which I’ll read verbatim to you so that it lands correctly. So they they shared with us at the concierge service. Made the whole process easier. I was initially quite concerned at the beginning. How much my disability would impact me having extra time?
00:24:45
He helped and allow me the chance to better understand the task. And what I had to do, I was applying for quite a few jobs and no other company, or recruiter had contacted me regarding my condition or what they could do to accommodate this even when I had mentioned it. And that’s something that there’s lots of things in there, that really hit with me, you know, the no one else. Having asked the question that makes me really proud, what we’re doing. It also makes me really sad that others aren’t doing.
00:25:15
That because I recognized, as I mentioned earlier, he’s hard work applying for jobs and having interviews, this person is applying for multiple jobs and they just needed a bit of help so that they could perform at their best, we could remove some of those barriers for them. The second example that I’ll share with you so this candidate we sent them the interview questions in advance ready for their interview providing them with some some preparation time and we actually work with the business disability Forum so there are
00:25:45
partner of ours and we called them for advice and guidance on the adjustment recommendations. And again I’m going to read this feedback the verbatim to you so this candidate shared with this. My experience of the concierge was really good I felt supported it was great to be able to see the interview questions which was the best support I could have got from this service. I did have an interview with another company in which I also disclose my disability I felt a lot more supported by AXA
00:26:15
The other company provided me with an overview of the questions, not the exact questions like AXA did. This meant, my disability was still impacting me as I still suffered from information overload during the interview and could not prepare as well as I could have with the exact questions having the exact questions like AXA provided me made me feel more comfortable, but I’d answer to the best of my ability and help me with my quality of answer as well. So, I’m super proud of that feedback and it’s
00:26:45
It’s the same for my colleagues Lauren Leann and Yasmin who work with me on the concierge service. It’s great when you’re speaking to people because it’s two humans having that interaction, you’re having a conversation with them and these small changes. As I mentioned, they’re often so easy to implement. There’s no cost to them make the world of difference to a candidate.
00:27:09
Yeah, what, what powerful feedback as well. But you’d share thankyou Jen, and I know that neither of you keeping an eye on at the chat but I’ve just seen a couple of comments, which I thought you’d like to hear which is Stevie. I love these adjustments and Paul, this is amazing. Congratulations on the work. You’re doing around, accessibility and inclusion and I back those sentiments as well. And so, another question for you Jen just drawn the recruitment process. So,
00:27:38
So can you talk in a bit more detail about the tools or the methods which AXA to use to help candidates with disabilities or long-term conditions perform at their best during the recruitment process?
00:27:50
Yeah, absolutely. In addition to the examples, I’ve just shared with you and the accessibility concierge. We also participate in the disability confident author of interview scheme. Some of you on the call, may already be aware of this. You may already be part of disability confident, but if you’re not so
00:28:08
familiar. What this means is that a fair and proportionate number of candidates with long term conditions or disabilities, who meet the essential criteria for a role? Will be offered an interview. So how does it work candidates need to show? They meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job advert. They don’t need to share the details of their condition or disability for their application to be considered under the scheme. They are asked if they’d like to opt in and to ensure
00:28:38
ease of access. Every job advert has one of my colleagues and talent Acquisitions email address so they can contact them for support. A candidate can say yes to the offer of interview scheme and the accessibility concierge. Yes to one or the other or to neither. So they have that choice application stage to say yes to both yes to one or the other or no to either it’s not mandatory in
00:29:08
Anyway, it also applies to all of our candidates, both internal and external candidates, and that’s another learning I would share with you. Sometimes, there’s a perception of, oh, it only applies to external people. It doesn’t, it applies to everyone who already works at AXA, they can still partake in the offer of interview scheme and the concierge service.
00:29:31
Nice. And the next question around recruitment . I’m going to pose to both of you actually. So I’m not sure who would like to take it first that I’m curious to know how you work with hiring managers and other internal stakeholders just to ensure that they’re aligned and bought in with your inclusive recruitment goals. That’s again, another, it’s a theme which crops up quite a lot during skill sessions skills.
00:29:59
Sessions events where people talk about getting buy-in from internal stakeholders. So, I’m curious about how you work with hiring managers, just to ensure that they’re aligned with your goals question, posed to both of you. I don’t know who wants to take that first.
00:30:13
I’ll let Nicki go first.
00:30:14
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there’s a lot of things that we have done and some of it. We’ve done more, widely for throughout the organization. So one thing we’ve done is working with our internal comms because what’s really important is
00:30:29
To whatever we put in like that, to make that inviting as well, and accessible to people with disabilities, a long-term condition. So we’ve worked through our internal Comms team to improve our adverts, first of all. And just the way which we’ve we communicate with people and making sure that everything is accessible and obviously, the hiring managers do see a lot of these things. And also, they’ll see internally that we changing a lot of things in terms of how we are.
00:30:59
Communicating and how we, how that’s presented. And the things that we do, which all managers can see hiring managers is we have a candidate prepper candida preparation pack, so that is simply a pack that help people to prepare for their interview. But not only is that pack, you know, it’s really good. In has lots of great tips on how to approach interviews, but also make sure that that is created in an accessible way. And again, if people require
00:31:29
In over four months, we can make that happen as well, but the standard pack, we’ve created that in a way that is going to be accessible to the majority of people. But again, you know, there’s never one accessibility fix. That is suitable for all and you will always have those individual needs that solute. We work to meet, we also have the wonderful Jen and the talent acquisition team who support the managers along the way, particularly around the offer of interview scheme
00:31:59
And if they have any questions about that and as when Jen Jen he see if there are some more complex queries or needs as well, they the managers can come to me directly where necessary sometimes to do that before they go to Talent acquisition or also Jen. And the team can also come along to me if they do have any questions so that we make sure managers have that support throughout the process. But if they need some more complex stuff, that’s where it tends to come to me,
00:32:29
Terms of and align the new making sure. Harding managers know about that. And we did some sessions as well, both for our recruitment teams and talent acquisition. Just to round it off of interview. Schemas we were launching it. So that we make sure that everyone knew that, this is what we’re going to be doing. And this will really help us access to achieve our goals of. Not only being an inclusive, place to work proactively, including disabled people, and an attractive into our business.
00:32:59
Yes. Jen. If you got anything to add to to Nicki.
00:33:04
Yeah. Nicki is my Oracle in case, you know, that’s that already Nicki has done a lot of this before, in previous organizations and roles that she’s had. So she is such a font of knowledge, someone that I can have really honest open. Not judge non-judgmental conversations with to say. Have you seen this before? How did it work? And again, that’s something we’re so lucky at AXA to have all of these experts around us who are
00:33:31
Supportive who genuinely want to help. As far as getting that buy-in from managers go. We’re really lucky as well, because we are pushing on an open door with that culture of inclusion and belonging that does go across the organization sometimes. Managers will have questions and that’s absolutely fine. We’re always happy to chat that through with them and use our expertise knowledge, find out answers where we need to as part of the recruitment process, all of our managers complete an online inclusive recruitment training module and that helps form part of their recruitment toolkit and it gives them a range of recruitment scenarios covering topics such as disability neurodiversity and it ensures that hiring managers and interviewers role model or culture of inclusion and belonging when it comes to candidates who’ve been through the concierge service, we will only disclose to a manager or the interviewers if we need to and that’s on the
00:34:31
advice of our legal team so if we if a candidate needs extra time for their interview, of course, we’re going to need to share with the manager. This candidate requires extra time because otherwise they’re thinking why is that interview longer than everyone else’s? But what we don’t do and we don’t ask candidates even but we won’t talk to a manager about someone specific Condition. It’s only about the adjustments they require we have a conversation with them before the interview to make sure they’re comfortable with everything and answer any questions that they have? And I would say, overwhelmingly hiring, managers are really supportive and wanting to do the right thing by candidates.
00:35:12
Well what all the stuff you just talked about their Jen Nicki. I think it comes back again to that culture, that you described of inclusion and belonging and you said you’re pushing against Like An Open Door which is it’s just fantastic. And my experience of the conversations I’ve had with people in similar roles yourselves like that such a big hurdle to overcome so if that’s the culture that you have at AXA like just how brilliant rewarding for you to be able to bring this to life. Essentially now, again, pulling back to previous conversations that I’ve had with speakers on skill sessions, when it comes to inclusive, Recruitment and inclusion and belonging. And it’s not simply enough to sort of talk about the strategies that you’re implementing, the activity that you’re working on a really important thing, especially for senior
00:36:12
Stakeholders and the board questions that we often get asked is about demonstrating success and impact. So Jen, I don’t know if you can add a bit more contacts or color to: How does that serves measure the success of these inclusive recruitment strategies that you’ve just described? Are there any sort of specific metrics used?
00:36:34
Yes. So we mentioned earlier around that conversion rate that is tracked on how many candidates come through the concierge and what percentage of them are offered a role to? That’s a statistic that we use. We also look at feedback as well. So we engage with candidates and employees to provide feedback on the service and use it to improve myself. And my colleague is always keeping our eyes and ears open as well. Two things, we’ve learnt things we’ve seen in the outside world. What else could we add to make those improvements are focus on inclusive recruitment also?
00:37:12
Continues to support our disability, confident leader level status. So its up for Renewal next year and I know from previous work, we have done around disability, confident, the concierge plays a part in that renewal and the success of that scheme and I’ve actually got something hot off the press for you. Claire that I added into. I know, exciting. I can’t take full credit for it. Nicki made it as a suggestion. She’s like, Jen, what about this? I’m like, oh yes, there is such a such a good point but
00:37:42
Have recently upgraded our ATS. So our applicant tracking system, that’s the tool that we use to receive applications track them, through offer interviews, and then for contracts to be requested and as part of that design, we focused on inclusivity By Design ensuring, there were no barriers to entry as part of our application process. It’s still early doors. It only went live a few weeks ago and we’re really excited.
00:38:12
To see how the data and Reporting can be used to address any issues that are identified from that data reporting. So what trends do we spot, what things can we do differently? As a team when it comes to inclusive recruitment? So, yeah.
00:38:27
Nice gosh, it we really interesting sort of dig into that data. When you get more insight, Jen like you said, sort of adapt and learn from it. Because like I said at the start, it’s never finished. Is it always something to learn from love the hot press exclusive. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks . And so Nicki, you were described as an oracle by Jen, I. So just would love to know more about some of your experience. So what are the biggest mistakes that you see in your time Nicki that? You see organizations making an inclusive hiring, talk to us a bit about that.
00:39:05
Yeah. So there’s a few things that I see quite regularly and I know Jen spoke about a little bit earlier. around how you know, give him the questions to somebody. And, you know, some companies will give oversight rather than the questions. And, you know, I think there’s the tends to be a bit of a feeling that by giving someone the questions is going to give them an advantage and it really doesn’t. It just levels the playing field. So I can understand people feeling a bit, you know, is this the right thing to do? But it absolutely is because you want people to perform at
00:39:42
at their best, I can perform at the best you then have the opportunity to identify the right candidate. So providing the questions isn’t giving any one an advantage, it’s a Level Playing Field, so do it because it will help you identify the best candidates for for the roles as well. One thing that I that I do find quite challenging in is I know a lot of companies use
00:40:12
Assessments and tests as part of their recruitment process. And, you know, when you look at the test versus the role, does that test really have anything to do with what that person’s going to be doing day to day. So if you are going to assess someone, absolutely, I think these really beneficial when it comes to those technical roles. When you need to get an understanding of someone’s technical knowledge. But actually when you’re doing certain assessments,
00:40:42
So you know, just is it relevant to the role? Does it reflect what they’re going to be doing? If not? Is it really needed? So I think, you know, a lot of companies do do that when actually you don’t need to be fit as an it is related to the role that are going to be doing because that’s what you want to measure people against. Can they do what we are expecting them to do on a day-to-day basis. So that is something that is really, really important to do.
00:41:12
Do and one thing that I’m, you know, doing quite a lot of research because this is evolving at the moment is II. So, you know, a lot of companies are now looking to see whether they and get AI into their recruitment process and it’s always absolutely do it. But you know what, we are finding with AI at the moment is that by design? A lot of it is putting people with protected characteristics, disability and others at a disadvantage. So if you are going to do it,
00:41:42
you know, really investigate what you’re going to be using because you don’t want to implement systems and AI that, you know, undoes a lot of your hard work. So really looking to that. Is it relevant, is it needed? And really Mark people against what they’re going to be doing rather than you know this is a test that we’ve always done.
00:42:06
Solid advice, Nicki. We’ve got a few more questions left, which I wanted to put to you, but we’ve also got blown to questions coming in through the chat. And so, what I’m going to do is I’m going to mix up a little bit and pull a question from the chat, if that’s okay with you. Just so I make sure that we’ve got a night enough time because and yes, it’s really sparking some, some interesting conversations. And so,
00:42:35
And again, just a reminder to people, if you do have a question for Nicki or Jen, just use the Q&A sort of button at the top of the screen there. So there was a question here from Mark which says it would be good to understand how the support that you described helps colleagues with career progression life once hired, is that question? So I suppose we’ve talked a lot about onboarding and recruitment, but how does it help? All of those wonderful things that you described. How did it help with career progression once in AXA?
00:43:10
Hope you have understood that question correctly, Mark, and Jen. or Nicki, I don’t know who would be best posed or he wants to ask that question.
00:43:17
Nicki do you want to take it from an adjustment workplace adjustments perspective.
00:43:21
Yeah, absolutely. So you know, once someone is in the role and one thing we do is part of our onboarding and this is relevant to this question, I promise. So when people are going through the occupation, how process which everyone has to do in every single organization, when a site in a role is on a new start.
00:43:39
At a process where you ask them questions about their how as part of that. We also if someone answers yes, some of the questions to some of the questions, we get a nurse and action occupational, health nurse call them back, get them or get more detail. And as part of that, if it’s identified that actually this person may need adjustments, we then try to get a workplace assessment, a workplace needs assessment done before that person even starts so that again.
00:44:10
A soon as they come in, they’ve got not just the standard adjustments, at the money, through the interview process. But again, the adjustments that they need throughout their career, a few things that we are working on. Developing at the moment is a tailored adjustment plan as well. So say that, for instance, you’ve got your adjustments in place for day, one in your job and now you’re looking to develop into another role. We’re going to create that tailored adjustments panel and a lot of people, mainly that is the adjustments passport.
00:44:39
So that people have a document and, you know, it’s up to the individual how they share it so that they can share it in maybe an interview internally to say. You know, these are the adjustments I need for that interview and again, obviously the can go for the concierge but also when they’re working with new managers, they’ve got that document to say. Look, these are the adjustments I’ve got in place. This is what I need to thrive in my role because that is what it’s all about enabling people to thrive and
00:45:09
No, you don’t always as someone with a disability be constantly telling people. Look, I’ve got this, I’ve got this and this, we’re of actually, if you’ve got this document, you can also pass on that document so that, you know, that that is factored in or obviously, you can have those conversations with your manager, but one thing we’re going to be doing as well. Next year is making sure that as part of our of those one-to-one discussions, managers are having with their employees. It’s that these are just plants have been reviewed because again,
00:45:39
When an adjustment it’s not, it’s not always for life, it won’t be. This is what I need for these three months and someone challenges or disability or condition might change to the might need more this, some cases people need less and people don’t know what they need, until they know what they’re going to be doing. So again, it’s having those regular conversations whether that’s a developmental conversation, whether it’s in, your 12 ones and that accessibility and adjustments is
00:46:10
Of everything we do. And part of that recruitment journey and employer Journey throughout their career, we’ve AXA as well,
00:46:17
really important point that you make their Nicki around or revisiting that conversation. It’s not like a one and done. So really important to highlight that and Nicki, I think this will get another question for you from Nicola. Which says, can you give more specific examples of the types of reasonable adjustments? You can put in place, they have said, do you have a list? You can share. So I know when you talk to start Nicki mentioned, assistive technology. So there only some software’s that you use or are there any other tools. Or basically, I think Nicki was just looking for a nice little list and some tips that you can share.
00:46:55
Absolutely. Because the, you know, the thing is, it’s really hard to share release because it really is on a case-by-case basis. But there are certain software packages that it’s really good to have a suite of certain bits of software. including Caption.Ed and TalkType. I say that, you know, you’ve got that those go to software was in your business, but it really depends on the role and it depends on the individual and again, what’s reasonable in the business. So, Nicola, You can contact me on LinkedIn if you want some more specifics, but there’s loads of different bits of adjustments and it’s really hard to say. So if you’ve got a scenario, you know, I can come up with some general adjustments but he just really
00:47:39
depends on the individual, the business and the role. So I do that’s the very HR type answer at the but it’s it has to be on a case-by-case basis because everybody’s different. So you could have two people with the same condition who need completely different adjustments. So it’s really hard to just say yeah, here’s a list but if you’ve got scenarios that you want to talk through and more than happy to help,
00:48:03
What kind Nicki and Nicola Hopefully, that gives you a bit more bit more insight in a bit, more of a directions. And we have another question here from Mark and they ask. So when it comes to neurodivergent applicants, can the presenters? Give some examples of how they support this more specialized area in terms of thinking and communication Styles. So the example they’ve given is eye contact and how they can be interpreted
00:48:33
I can take that one? Hello Mark. So from an accessibility concierge perspective, we never ask what someone’s condition is only the adjustments that they require. So, if a candidate was to say to me, Jen. I’m unlikely to make eye contact with my interviewers, first of all, I’m confident that managers who have completed that inclusive recruitment module will have a good awareness that someone who is neurodivergent may or may not. prefer to make eye contact with them. And the reality is
00:49:07
The impact of someone doing their job by not making eye contact. There isn’t going to be an impact at AXA a lot of the jobs that we do. Sometimes we’ll have people on the phones sometimes they will have face-to-face meetings with clients and Brokers for example, but that won’t impact someone’s ability to do the job. But if a candidate was to say to me, Jen, I’d like you to let my interview as know, that that’s something that I would have a conversation with them about as part of that hiring.
00:49:37
Briefing before the interview. But we will very much personalized and tailor the adjustments that someone needs for their interview and Nicki made a good point about things. Being different dependent on the situation. So there may be multiple stages to an interview process and what someone needs for a first stage interview could look different for a second stage interview. So we’ll continue that conversation with the candidate and have that relationship with them throughout their application and interview process.
00:50:08
And I just wanted to pick up as well on Nicki point. And one of the other questions, apologies. I can’t remember who asked it, but about having a tick list. So we don’t have a tick list or a list in the concierge of what adjustments we can put in place for interview. It is about truly personalizing it to what that person needs, at that time, for that particular scenario. Mark, I hope that helps
00:50:34
what a wonderful answer. Thank you, Jen. Lots of information, shared their, there’s a question here. I’ve just noticed at the top and actually, I think it’s a question for me, and I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly correctly, Althea. They said, how does this work? If I see a post or a company, which I apply to other, carescribe come in? So, just for the clarity, if anyone missed the introduction of this call and you are slightly late joining the webinar, so the skill sessions events are hosted by Carescribe, which is the company that I work for and we create assistive Technology software. So we have two products
00:51:10
Caption.Ed and TalkType. The AXA team will be familiar with those.So the AXA team are talking today about their inclusive recruitment processes. So very very separate how CareScribe and AXA work together.
00:51:34
Sorry, can I jump in there. Another great thing people can access is Access to Work. So if for instance you’ve got an interview and you need communication support, you can contact access to work who can help provide that support for you and that is open to anybody in the UK and so that would be as an example. If someone is deaf and these British sign language as part of an interview access to work and provide that for you. So that that’s a great service that you can potentially access in those sort of areas that you asked about.
00:52:06
That is such a brilliant thing to interject with Nicki because access to work is I think one of the best kept secrets in the UK. It’s such a wonderful service and provision for professionals going into work and staying in work. So we would highly recommend seeking information through access to work. There’s a government website about it and you can get access to various Provisions. So
00:52:34
Software Hardware CareScribe’s products are part of access to work as well. So do please go and have a look. It’s also we posted a skill sessions event, all about access to work before. So if you go to the carescribe website, you can find out more information about the scheme and how it could benefit as well. And thank you everyone for so many wonderful questions that have been put in the Q&A Jen and Nicki. We have a few moments left. So we’ve got enough time for one last question.
00:53:05
Which is what’s one practical, take away that you’d like the audience to remember from today’s discussion. Nicki do you mind doing that one first?
00:53:16
Yeah, no problem. You know, I think there’s, I’m just trying to think of the, the one, I think for me, it’s all around being proactive, and asking candidates that every single stay in. But what’s also important
00:53:34
Important as part of that is ensuring, candidates know what that is. So it’s going to be a competency-based interview. It’s going to be a written test because you need to know what you’re doing in order to know what adjustments you need. So be proactive ask and also give that information so that people can tell you what they need and somebody what will go down there.
00:53:58
No we’ve got time Nicki carry on,
00:54:04
In what someone’s disability is, it’s about asking. What adjustments do you need because, you know, in many cases and with the work that I do on a day-to-day? The disability, it if someone tells me they’ve got this condition, it really doesn’t matter. I need to understand how it impacts you and what I can do to reduce or remove those barriers. So knowing what someones disability is isn’t what I’m looking for. It’s understanding what your challenges are and what we can do to help you overcome those.
00:54:34
It’s okay. Just on that. Actually, there was a, a comment from Debbie in the Q&A, which actually speaks to that point, but you’ve just described. So they say it’s interesting that you only mention adjustments. Someone needs, and not the condition. So, Debbie said that the focus I come across all the time. Is that managers and HR want to know what the condition is, so that they can provide the adjustments and they’re Keen to use Occupational Health, rather than ask the individuals. They have said,
00:55:04
How do you get around this? And I wondered if you wanted to sort of share any more information around that, but it was just interesting to hear you talk about the adjustments from the the condition Nicki.
00:55:16
Yeah so, you know, one example that I use quite a lot is, if I told you I’ve got keratoconus, what adjustment would you give me?
00:55:25
And it’s a good, it’s a good question. Yeah.
00:55:30
And again, like a lot of people actually if you say so what what is it that you would find challenging in this scenario, you might say, you know, this is an example with myself, you know, if you if I turn up to an interview and it’s like he’s he’s a paper-based test, I’m just not going to be able to do that. But if you said that to me, actually what you’re going to be doing is paper-based test. What what would you find challenging about not going to actually, I wouldn’t be able to see it. Could you get me a large print? Could we do it digitally. So the the condition really doesn’t give you
00:56:04
The answer to the question that you have so it’s all all around explaining those scenarios and, you know, use that example because, you know, it’s about making people think. Because a lot of these things, you know, are are quite logical but until you flip it in terms of the way you answer it then you don’t realize. Actually, that makes a lot of perfect sense. Let’s just find out what your challenge is not what your condition is. Because we that we, you know, and again,
00:56:34
Again week what we work towards is a social model of disability. So the what the social model is it’s all around its society that creates barriers for people with disabilities not their condition. So again using that example give me paper. It’s no use to me whereas actually if you give it to me in a format that is suitable to my needs, then I can fully participate. So you know work towards the social model of disability which is all around removing barriers that Society creates rather than focusing on the condition.
00:57:10
Thank you, Nicki.
00:57:13
Jen, I’m going to put the last question to you, as well. So, can you share with us? What’s your one, practical, take away that you’d like the audience to remember, from today’s discussion?
00:57:23
Yeah, Nicki stolen, my point, which is all good because I love her. So that’s fine. So I’ll change the while I was going to share and I would say it. Links back to the point. I made earlier about the accessibility concierge never being finished and it’s a continual learning and
00:57:43
I don’t know everything, I don’t know, all the answers and I never will. So it’s about using that Network around you. I’m really lucky that I’ve got that within AXA, UK as a company, but we still pull on other external resources. So for example, the business disability forum who were a member of, they have got such a vast realm of knowledge and you can call their helpline and they can can give you guidance and assistance. There’s loads of information available online.
00:58:13
there’s, there’s other experts webinars that you can go to. So, I would say don’t put pressure on yourself, to always know the answer as long as you are asking. Good questions with genuine intent and trying to do the right thing. By candidates. You can’t go far wrong.
00:58:33
Lovely. Jen Nicki thank you so much for your time. This afternoon, just a wealth of information sharing with people on this call today. So thank you so much and if anyone wants to drop any thank yous and comments in the chat. Thank you to the audience as well for joining us for the last hour. It’s been incredibly insightful. Susie, that’s very great session.
00:59:03
And yeah, great session. Great insights shared from Jacqueline. Thank you, Jacqueline. Thank you. So helpful and massive. Thank you, wonderful to be part of it. Lots of Kudos coming in for you, both in the chat. So Jen Nicki. Thank you so much for your time today, and I’m going to wrap up. We’ve got one minute left, so, you should see if you’re in the audience, you should see that their team are posting a link to the survey, which I mentioned at the start.
00:59:32
Art where you can request a certificate of attendance if you’d like one. So have a look in the chat for that and if you enjoyed today’s webinar, please help us spread the word and tell people about these events. As I said at the start, we are just shy of 2,000 community members, and it would be wonderful if we could hit that number before next month’s event. So whether you’re mentioning it to a colleague and the corridors of sharing it on LinkedIn, every bit of Word of Mouth helps and simply we’re eager to grow this community.
01:00:02
because we want to create a valuable Network for people. So whether you’re on your neurodivergent yourself, or you manage a team of people in an organization and you want to understand how to support them better? These events are designed to help you. Speaking of these events. Next month’s event is about how to get leadership on board with neuro inclusion. We’re going to drop a link to the registration in the chat now and I will also arrive in the follow-up email which is coming to inboxes tomorrow afternoon. So that is all for today.
01:00:32
Thank you so much everyone for your time. Thanks again to Jen and Nicki for joining us as panelists. And we will see you next month on the 5th of December bye everyone.