For a.s.r., it is key that employees remain sustainably employable, which is why considerable attention is given to personal and professional development, physical and mental health and work-life balance. a.s.r. has great confidence in its employees and encourages everyone to take control of their own careers, development, and the way they do their work.
In order to attract and retain the skills it needs, a.s.r. offers an attractive, competitive and flexible employment package and focuses considerable attention on employee development, engagement and vitality. It is also committed to improving diversity, equal treatment and inclusion.
Workforce
In 2023, the total workforce grew by 3.9% to 4,4791 FTEs (2022: 4,313). All of these employees work in the Netherlands. a.s.r. aims to fill at least 40% of all vacancies internally. This retains the knowledge of people and culture in the company and gives employees the opportunity to develop further professionally. In 2023, 267 out of a total of 577 vacancies were filled internally, equating to 46%.
In 2023, the labour market remained tight. In order to retain talent, a.s.r. focused considerable attention during the year on boosting employee loyalty and engagement. A retention policy was devised for key staff officers. a.s.r. distinguishes between financial incentives and non-financial incentives, e.g. opportunities for development. The company is concentrating mainly on the application of development opportunities, since their effect is more sustainable than that of financial incentives.
In 2023, a.s.r. also focused strongly on employer branding. The employer proposition was tightened in line with the adjusted repositioning of a.s.r. and a multimedia campaign was rolled out in the summer.
Development and sustainable employability
In an environment where automation and digitalisation are becoming increasingly important, and in the light of the integration of a.s.r. and Aegon NL, developing the talents of every employee is key. The aim is to enable employees to become and remain future-proof.
a.s.r. employees can make use of a budget agreed in the collective labour agreement (CLA) and an extensive range of development programs to promote sustainable employability. These include non-job related training and forms of coaching that improve an individual’s opportunities on the labour market or that prepare them for a subsequent career step. a.s.r. also has its own talent advisors, who help staff with questions about their careers. All a.s.r. employees have access to a wide range of development opportunities in the a.s.r. academy, a.s.r.’s learning platform.
51% of all employees followed training courses in 2023 (2022: 63%). The total amount spent on training in 2023 was € 5.6 million (2022: € 5.4 million).
For managers, there is the Leadership Education programme. This is a mandatory development programme for all managers with the aim to help managers develop and maintain their professional knowledge and skills.
For employees directly affected by reorganisations, there are special initiatives in the form of information meetings on how to improve agility and employability, workshops and speed dates with talent advisors. This approach, which was developed by a.s.r. itself, is called In Motion (In Beweging).
'What doing can do - customer contact': a new learning line for customer support employees'
The story of a.s.r. is the basis for the new organisation and contains its strategy, vision and core values. Following this, a new learning path for all customer support employees was launched in November 2023: 'What doing can do- customer contact'. a.s.r. wants to become the best financial service provider in the Netherlands with the highest customer and intermediary
satisfaction score. Customer support employees play an important role in this.
After all, they are often the first point of contact for the customer. Throughout the organisation, a.s.r. wants the contact with customers and advisors to be of the same, excellent standard and this new learning path contributes to that. By training all customer support employees in a uniform way and inspiring them to go the extra mile wherever possible, a.s.r. is working towards a uniform customer experience.
Trainee programmes
a.s.r. runs two trainee programmes to attract talented graduates, one in collaboration with the Utrecht University of applied sciences focused on IT and one general traineeship. These programmes enable candidates to develop as specialists or to progress to management positions.
In 2023, 10 trainees who attended the general a.s.r. traineeship and five IT trainees concluded their traineeship and accepted a permanent role within a.s.r. The five general trainees and the five IT trainees who began their traineeships in 2022 will complete their programme in 2024. As a result of the business combination with Aegon NL, the decision was made to put the a.s.r. traineeship temporarily on hold. This programme will be resumed in September 2024.
a.s.r. will continue Aegon NL’s existing trainee programmes in a slightly adapted form. Other than a general traineeship, this includes a programme for data science talent and programmes on non-financial risk, technical development and financial development.
Vitality and absenteeism
a.s.r. pays considerable attention to physical and mental health. Employees can take part in an annual health check and a vitality scan, with which they gain insight into energy sources and stressors. Vitality Scan results confirm that a.s.r.'s preventive policy is working. There is an overall positive development shown in the results.
By 2023, there were fewer absences. This is reflected in the higher percentage of employees who did not report sick (nil absenteeism) of 56% in 2023 (2022: 50%). With 4.1%, the absentee rate remains stable (2022: 4.2%).
Diversity, equity and inclusion
A diverse, equal and inclusive working environment is essential for an organisation and its employees. Not only in order to make full use of people’s diverse qualities and perspectives for better decision-making, but also to better understand the diversity of customer needs, to inspire equal treatment of the interests of all internal and external stakeholders and promote a safe, pleasant and inclusive working atmosphere. The goal is to realise a working environment where mutual understanding, attention and empathy are central and everyone is given the space to be themselves and provide their input.
Dialogue sessions, panel discussions and other initiatives are organised on a regular basis to draw attention to these topics, allow colleagues to engage in dialogue with each other and explore how the organisation can further improve on these themes.
Cultural diversity
In 2023, a.s.r. took part in Statistics Netherlands’ (CBS) Cultural Diversity Barometer for the third time. This gives organisations an insight into the ethnic backgrounds of their staff without these statistics being traceable to individual employees. Former Aegon NL did not take part in the CBS Barometer in 2023.
Based on the methodology and the CBS’s ‘ethnic background’ classification (western/non-western), cultural diversity within a.s.r. in recent years has risen slightly from 18% in 2021 to 19% in 2023. Based on this classification, the cultural diversity of the overall working population in the Netherlands in 2023 was 23%.
Based on the classification according to ‘country of origin’, with 20% of its employees having their country of origin outside the Netherlands, a.s.r. is on balance slightly less culturally diverse than the wider working population in the Netherlands, at 24%. On the other hand, the a.s.r. workforce is a representative reflection of the cultural diversity within the working population in the Netherlands in terms of countries of origin outside Europe. At 16%, this share in a.s.r. exactly mirrors that of the wider working population in the Netherlands. Cultural diversity within a.s.r. is greatest among younger employees.
Gender diversity
a.s.r.’s diversity, equity and inclusion objectives with respect to gender diversity are that at least one-third of management, Management Board and Supervisory Board members should be women and at least one-third should be men.
To achieve these objectives, the diversity, equity and inclusion policy is applied to the recruitment process and the annual employee review. Measures to ensure gender diversity in management and the Management Board include the annual fleet review, succession planning and the Leadership Education (LE) programme.
Equal treatment of men and women is also part of gender diversity. The yearly adjusted pay gap analysis, most recently conducted in December 2023, showed that there is no pay gap between men and women at a.s.r. For more insight on this analysis, see section 3.3.3.
Participation desk
The Participation desk of a.s.r. has the ambition to reduce the distance to the labour market for individuals with a work disability. During a two-year period (maximum), these individuals gain work experience and develop employee skills. They receive intensive guidance and are offered a tailor-made development programme. The aim is to prepare them for a permanent position, preferably within a.s.r. The objective is that in 2026, a.s.r. employs 70 employees that meet the criteria set by the Participation Act. At the end of 2023, 53 employees (2022: 44) who fell within this target group were employed at a.s.r. via the Participation desk.
In 2023, a.s.r. maintained Stage 1 of TNO’s Corporate Social Responsibility Performance ladder (Prestatieladder Socialer Ondernemen). This means that on average, a.s.r. employs more people who are at a distance from the labour market than organisations of the same size. And also, that a.s.r. encourages suppliers and contractors to engage in social entrepreneurship. a.s.r. achieved Stage 1 in January 2020.
- 1This figure is excluding Aegon NL.