AXA UK launch the Empathy Lab

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In 2024, AXA UK launched its first Empathy Lab, which consists of a series of interactive experiences involving physical and virtual simulations which aim to help their colleagues learn how customers with disabilities interact with products and services.

Brought to life by the Customer Accessibility team, the Empathy Lab was designed to help their colleagues understand how customers with disabilities are impacted daily and how accessibility barriers could unintentionally be created.

The lab simulations reflect situational, temporary, or permanent disabilities relating to sight, hearing, motor and cognitive functions. AXA UK colleagues are invited to read about varying disabilities and complete tasks on their websites while simulating a disability. For example, they can wear arthritis simulation gloves, glasses that affect their vision or headphones that provide distracting audio content. There are currently 10 tasks for participants to complete.

So far, the Empathy Lab has visited five AXA offices across the UK and Ireland, with five more dates planned for the year. It has been visited by 164 people, of which 85 (52%) provided feedback.

100% of those respondents said they had learned something new from attending and 100% had a positive experience, with many choosing to leave optional comments. One participant wrote: “I now have a better understanding of the challenges people with various disabilities may face. We talked about it from a customer perspective, but it also made me think about what we are doing internally on our websites, for instance for our own colleagues who may face some of these barriers.” -Annie Aves, ERM Risk and Controls Analyst