Where to begin - Anonymous employee Standard Life plc Employee Review

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. I am surprised by your review and concerned by the specific nature of your comments as this is not feedback we are hearing more broadly. We have not received any internal feedback or complaints regarding any of the points mentioned in your review. We have confidence in our people and in our business, as demonstrated by the facts mentioned below, and the internal feedback from our colleagues does not align to the points mentioned. I acknowledge your comments and would like to understand if there is any evidence to support this so that we can support you and address these specific points. I recommend you raise these comments via our internal channels which would be via your HR representative, People Leader or the confidential HR advice line. You are also welcome to contact me directly. We value diversity in all its forms. Racism is not accepted, and we take allegations of this nature seriously. In March 2023 we published our first ethnicity pay gap report, from April to September we ran ‘Inclusive Leadership’ training for our People Leaders and aspects of our recruitment process were classed as ‘Best in Class’ for all diversity lenses in a recent external audit. Our target for ethnicity representation across the Group was 13%, and we ended the year on 14.8%. This is published internally and externally for full transparency. We know that there’s more to do and I acknowledge that based on your review, some of this has not transpired in to your personal experience. Whilst your comments are not something we’re seeing anywhere else in the organisation, we are committed to continually taking on feedback, adapting our training and continuing to improve, so again, please get in touch using the contacts I mentioned above so that we can understand more about your specific experience. It’s impossible for us to help if we aren’t aware of this internally and we aren't seeing feedback of this nature relating to our CMO or the business more broadly in any other channel. We passionately believe that flexible working can help everyone thrive at Phoenix and embrace our differences across the business. What this means is that some people may choose and be able to work at different times of the day to fit around their home lives, but there is no expectation for other people to work to accommodate these different working arrangements. It is not a commonly held view that flexible working or annual leave is a challenge and your feedback describes a very specific instance that we are not aware of. Again, please contact me so we can understand more. Thank you again for taking the time to share your feedback. Whilst it’s good that you have some positive experiences, I recommend that you raise some of the specific points raised internally via the appropriate channels so that we can help. Please be assured that any further information you provide will be treated confidentially. Jane Avison Head of Talent Acquisition Operations & Employer Brand