Our people are Aviva
At Aviva, our people are focused on delivering our purpose and our promises and making things better for our customers, communities and colleagues. They make Aviva a great place to work.
Aviva has always been about helping people and being there for them today and in the future. It is our colleagues that make this happen for our customers, so supporting every one of them to thrive is good for them, good for the organisation, and good for our customers.
Transcript for video Inclusion and diversity at Aviva
We are Aviva.
We are our people.
We are our experiences, our abilities, our attitudes, our ambitions, our ideas, and our interests.
We are ourselves.
We come together when times get tough.
We listen, we adapt, and we find strength in our diversity of people.
We learn and we grow together.
We each have our own unique voices and we respect each other’s life experiences.
We say “This is me, there is no one else like me”.
What makes you, you?
Our culture and values
Our people are passionate about doing their best for our customers. Our values guide everything we do, from having the CONFIDENCE to shape Aviva for today and tomorrow, showing the COMMITMENT to deliver on our promises, working together as a COMMUNITY to make Aviva better and more inclusive for everyone and taking the CARE to speak up if something isn’t right and to build a better Aviva.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
We believe everyone at Aviva should be themselves.
We are determined to have a diverse workforce and inclusive culture where different views and opinions are encouraged. We ask our people where change is needed, where we are doing great things and where we can be better.
We have six global employee resource groups, bringing together a wide range of support networks from across the business. More than 6,000 employees have joined our Aviva Communities which cover race and religion, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, age, and mental and physical health.
Health and Wellbeing
At Aviva, the wellbeing of our colleagues is a business priority. We know how important it is for our people to have a healthy balance. That’s why we provide lots of brilliant support and services for our colleagues.
Our wellbeing programme covers four areas:
Your health - we encourage and support our colleagues to manage their physical wellbeing – including sleep, hydration, nutrition, posture, and activity.
Your mind – we have a culture where it is safe to speak up or ask for help and give our colleagues emotional and practical support to build their own mental fitness and resilience. You can read more in our Mental Health Statement.
Your finances - we make sure our colleagues know about their reward and benefits so they can make conscious choices. We are a Real Living Wage, Living Pension and Living Hours employer. We give our people general financial education, and our benefits integrate with our wellbeing programme.
Your world – at Aviva, we’re inclusive. We give our colleagues the opportunities to feel connected, to collaborate and to be included; as well as making a wider contribution to society through initiatives including volunteering and the Aviva Foundation.
Developing careers
We take career development seriously, offering a range of training, development and leadership programmes across all our markets.
From graduates to apprentices to emerging leaders we give everyone the chance to grow, offering coaching, mentoring, support for professional qualifications and access to a digital learning platform with more than 7,000 courses on a range of subjects.
Great Place to Work
We're committed to being a great place to work for the benefit of our colleagues and our customers.
We celebrate difference in our people and we're focused on creating a high performing culture so all our colleagues can shine, wherever they are in our organisation.
Doing the right thing for our people
For our people, I hope that you’ve got a sense of pace. I want you to feel that we’re going to move, that things are going to happen and that you’re going to be part of that. And that you have a really, really important role to play.
A positive environment and good working relationships have a substantial impact on our wellbeing and engagement. Creating an environment where people can work better together will lead to a high performing business and our customer satisfaction will grow. It’s therefore important for us all to resolve workplace issues that prevent us from collaborating effectively and doing our jobs to the best of our ability. We have a comprehensive grievance Resolution Procedure to help employees to work together effectively and deal with any conflict they may experience in the workplace. All employees have access to this confidential service via our internal intranet.
Being a Living Wage Employer
We want our people to enjoy a decent standard of living – that’s why we’re proud to be a 'Living Hours' and real Living Wage Employer in the UK. And that includes contractors and suppliers who work on our sites too. People like Lynne Hanner and her team, who do a great job helping to keep our offices in Norwich clean and safe.
In this video Lynne talks to some of our people about the huge difference the Living Wage has made:
Transcript for video Aviva is proud to pay the real Living Wage
Two years ago, I made a film about the Living Wage and the difference it made to me. Today I've come to Bristol to talk to my colleagues about the difference that the Living Wage has made to their lives.
So what's the Living Wage allowed you to do that you couldn't do before?
It’s been taking my kids out on day trips, the presents a bit more better and the same with the wife buy her - her presents are a bit better. And buy her more stuff, like flowers, which I couldn't afford before.
So all I can say is that of all companies done this, people that's working for them would be a lot better off and happier in their job.
And how long have you worked for Aviva?
10 years.
Oh, so you’re what we would call an oldie not a newbie.
Yes.
So you remember what it was like before you were paid the Living Wage?
Oh, yes. Before I do full-time here, six hours in the morning, two hours in the evening, and sometime we do overtime Saturday and Sunday.
So your quality of life is now better?
Yes. More better, definitely more better.
What you guys are saying here is that Living Wage is going to make a lot of difference to your life.
My stress levels have gone down. You enjoy, you get the quality of life now and you get the work/life balance, which you couldn't have before because you had to work the extra hours.
And of course there’s always a little bit of money left over, hopefully.
Yeah, and obviously I can afford to go on holiday now, which I couldn't do before. So there’s lots of things.
Yes. And so you'll carry on working for a Aviva, obviously?
Oh, I’ve got no intention of leaving. I'm here until I retire. Definitely nothing - not planning on going nowhere.
By coming down to Bristol today I've learnt that my colleagues have benefited immensely from the Living Wage, just as I did.
I'd like to think, if we can get one more large company to pay the Living Wage, then we've done a good job.
Equal paid parental leave for Aviva employees
We give our people in the UK, Ireland and Canada equal paid parental leave. Regardless of gender, sexual orientation or how they become a parent – birth, adoption or surrogacy – they’re entitled to the same amount of paid and unpaid time off.
Since we launched it in 2017, we’ve learnt a lot. Watch our video to find out more and see the impact it’s had for some of our people:
Transcript for video Aviva Equal Parental Leave
Having six months off. I got to witness things that I just would have missed as a father.
The six months parental leave has been brilliant. We've really built a family bond together.
We've got the same manager and he's always really supportive.
It's never come into question that my career might be in jeopardy for having six months off.
To know that I could have six months off at full pay it was almost just a huge relief.
It's just unbelievable, you know, you tell people about it and they just don't believe it.
Just brilliant people
It takes our people to make Aviva a great place to work. Get to know some of them...
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Our Taryn: “They call me a conjuror of the dark arts”
Taryn Siwale, SEO Manager in Aviva Ireland, on how to be found.
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Our Kofi: “How could you be so… human?”
Kofi Eschoe-Wilson, Customer Service Consultant, on competing for his country, turning down Cirque du Soleil, and tackling taboo.
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Our Heather: “Huge potential claims”
Heather Dusenbury, specialist underwriter in Aviva Canada, on math, exposure and deal hunting.
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Our Ed: “When everything you imagined becomes reality”
Ed Dixon, Head of Responsible Investment at Aviva Investors, on funding a better tomorrow.
