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OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS
DIZZI AXA rules out option of PERSIAN CUISINE
full-time working at home ‘Huge benefit working in office and learning from one another’ By Richard Williams
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THE town’s biggest employer, AXA Health, says it will not adopt a 100 percent working from home business model. And in an exclusive interview with the Times it has also again confirmed that it is committed to remaining in Tunbridge Wells. The news comes after the company announced it was closing two local offices and introducing permanent hybrid hours with time split between office and home, a change that has impacted some town centre retailers who have lost customers.
Challenges AXA CEO Tracy Garrad, who is responsible for 2,000 staff in Tunbridge Wells, told the Times: “There is huge benefit in working in the office and learning from one another so we have been very honest [with staff] and said from the start we would not adopt a 100 per cent working from home model. “We also do have a handful of workers that cannot physically be at home because of the nature of their jobs.” She had only been in her post at the health insurer around a year before the pandemic hit, which caused significant challenges for the business. Among the decisions Tracy Garrad made as the company emerged from the pandemic was to switch to hybrid working – with some staff in the office on some days but working from home on others.
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Three million jabs keeps admissions to hospital down By Robert Forrester MORE than three million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across the county. NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group [CCG] says in total 1.4million first doses have been given to people, 1.2 million second doses, and 400,000 booster jabs. According to the CCG, 90 per cent of people over the age of 50 have had two doses of the vaccine, 68 per cent have had their booster, 69 per cent of people over 18 has had two doses, 60 per cent of 16 to 17-year-olds have had one does, and 41 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds have had one dose.
Rising COMMITMENT AXA’s head office in Hawkenbury and CEO Tracy Garrad The move has meant that two of its Tunbridge Wells offices are now surplus to requirements, and AXA has put up for sale Eynsham House and Phillips House on Crescent Road opposite the Assembly Hall.
‘We are conscious of the closures affecting the High Street’ As disclosed in the Times last month, the sale has caused concern among traders in the town who are worried about the loss of lunchtime trade with fewer workers visiting the town centre. Around half of AXA’s 2,000-strong workforce in the town were based in the one of the two closed offices. “By October 2020 we decided that it was time to ask our workforce
about the future,” Tracy Garrad explained. “Around 92-93 per cent of the workforce up and down the country responded to our survey about flexible working, co-working and what they enjoyed about the office.
Persona “About 91-92 per cent were in favour of a hybrid working model. Only around 7-8 per cent did not want to work from home again and a small handful enjoyed working from home so much they didn’t want to return to the office.” She revealed how they worked out the ‘persona’ of each different department and worker before coming up with a sliding scale of how much work they needed to do
See more on page 2
Chief Nurse Paula Wilkins said: “The programme continues to grow and the roll out of vaccines is our main weapon in making sure we keep our family and friends safe during the winter.” Rates of Covid-19 are rising across the area. Latest figures show there were 649 positive cases identified in Tunbridge Wells to the seven days to November 20, this was up from the week before when there were 560 recorded cases. Similar rises have been seen across the area with Tonbridge seeing rates increase from 484 to 588, Sevenoaks from 611 from 663 and Wealden from 715 to 868. However, hospital admissions across Kent have fallen for the third week in a row. Latest figures show there are 153 patients with the virus in the county’s three hospital trusts – down from 160 the week before. As of November 23, there were 41 people with Covid-19 at either Maidstone or Tunbridge Wells Hospital, down from 68 cases from November 1. The news comes as the government has announced all over 18s will also be offered a booster jab following concerns over the Omicron variant. Temporary Covid measures, such as the reintroduction of mandatory mask wearing in shops and on public transport were also introduced yesterday [Tuesday]. See more on P13
• One-way system in High Street is to stay – page 3 • Balance of power by-election results - page 5