All articles by Amanda Wilkinson – Page 2
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Employee Benefits Salary Survey 2008
Benefits professionals’ salaries differ between genders, says Amanda WilkinsonWomen working in-house for employers in the field of compensation and benefits are earning significantly less than their male counterparts, according to the Employee Benefits Salary Survey 2008.There is a difference of more than £15,000 between the mean salary for men (£59,177) ...
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Employee Benefits Live: Creating a positive environment crucial in a downturn
Employers have been warned that the current economic turmoil made it more important than ever to create a positive working environment built on trust otherwise they will risk loosing key talent once the downturn is over.Speaking at Employee Benefits Live, Judith Leary-Joyce, chief executive of Great Companies Consulting, told delegates ...
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Gender gap in pay rates, Employee Benefits survey reveals
WOMEN working in-house for employers in the field of compensation and benefits are earning significantly less than their male counterparts, according to the Employee Benefits Salary Survey 2008.There is a difference of more than £15,000 between the mean salary for men (£59,177) and women (£43,213), according to the survey. It ...
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Interview with Adrian Furnham, professor in psychology at the University of London
Adrian Furnham, a professor in psychology, believes that an effective motivation strategy should have clear targets, offer valued incentives and be linked to performance, says Amanda WilkinsonThrowing money at a problem does not always help to solve the underlying issue. When it comes to motivating employees, that is certainly the ...
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Driving fuel efficiency is key to keeping fleet costs under control
The price of a barrel of crude oil has almost doubled in the last year or so, increasing from $60 to stand at around $120 when Employee Benefits went to press. Although it has fallen back a little from an all-time high of more than $140 in June, some experts ...
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Employers may have to refund tax to staff after increases in personal allowance
Employers may have to provide some employees with a tax refund following the government's increase in the personal allowance to compensate for the withdrawal of the 10% tax band. The increase takes effect from 7 September and is backdated to 6 April. The usual procedure for employers is to fund ...
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Transitional pay protection illegal
The Court of Appeal has ruled that equal pay schemes that offer transitional protection to higher-paid, often male, workers are unlawful. Its verdict in the cases of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council v Bainbridge and others, and Middlesbrough Borough Council v Surtees and others means that thousands of low-paid women ...
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Travel expense tax relief probe
The government could crack down on the "abuse" by some umbrella organisations and employment agencies of the rules around tax relief for travel expenses claimed by temporary workers. The Treasury has launched a consultation on "Tax relief for travel expenses: temporary workers and overarching contracts". Whitehall is concerned umbrella companies ...
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NHS staff can’t rely on Agenda for Change retrospectively in equal pay claims
Employees will not be able to rely solely on the banding of roles put forward by the National Health Service's (NHS) job evaluation scheme Agenda for Change, in order to support any claim for equal pay that relates to the period prior to the scheme's implementation, following a ruling by ...
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Interview with Dr Graham Brown, pensions manager at Barnardo’s
Barnardo’s pensions manager, Dr Graham Brown is a man on a mission, travelling the length and breadth of the country to let staff at the children’s charity know about their pension and what to consider in the run-up to retirement.When Brown first arrived at the charity in 1993 its defined ...
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Pearson sharesave plans prove profitable on maturity
Pearson's UK employees who participated for five years in the company's 2003 international sharesave scheme stood to gain an average of £6,138 when their plan reached maturity on 1 August.There were 168 participants in the plan on maturity who each made monthly savings on average of £152 and benefited from ...
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Employers warned to adhere to revamped maternity rules
Employers are being urged to re-examine their maternity policies around payment of pension contributions and provision for childcare vouchers in the run-up to new sex discrimination legislation.Under the new legislation, due to come into effect on 5 October, employers will be required to make the same non-cash contractual benefits to ...
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Government clampdown on abuse of tax break for temps' travel expenses
The government could crack down on the “abuse” by some umbrella organisations and employment agencies of the rules around tax relief for travel expenses claimed by temporary workers.The Treasury has launched a consultation on ‘Tax relief for travel expenses: temporary workers and overarching contracts’.The government fears that some umbrella organisations ...
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Dragon’s Den entrepreneur offers staff workplace giving option
Dragon’s Den entrepreneur, Duncan Bannatyne has introduced workplace giving across his businesses.More than 3,000 of his employees will have the chance to make donations direct from their pay to a charity of their choice in a tax-efficient manner. For example, a £6 donation will translate into £10 for higher-rate tax ...
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JLT to “internationalise” employee benefits business
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group is to “internationalise” its growing employee benefits business by developing a new online benefits platform and other services that can be used globally by employers.This initiative is to be led by commercial director William Nabarro who has taken on the additional role of international chairman of ...
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Amanda Wilkinson, editor, Employee Benefits
For many compensation and benefits professionals, 2012 and the introduction of personal accounts — the government's new national pensions savings plan — seems a long way off.Yet it is one of many challenges benefits experts will face over the next couple of years. Employers will have to contribute 3percent of ...
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Unequal maternity and paternity rights need to be reviewed
Recently-extended maternity rights are having the unintended consequence of limiting the career prospects of women and creating inequality for fathers, says the chief of the new equalities watchdog.Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission says that there is a case for reviewing unequal maternity and paternity ...
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Employee Benefits Awards winners 2008
Asda, O2, Danone, Lloyds TSB, Norwich Union and GlaxoSmithKline were among the many winners at the Employee Benefits Awards 2008 which was held at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel, London on 18 June. For a full list of winners and finalists, click here. In order obtain full details of the ...
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Employee Benefits Summit 2008: Employers urged to take responsibility for staff health
Employers are being urged to take on responsibility for the health of their employees by implementing wellbeing initiatives and accurately measuring sickness absence and staff turnover in the workplace.Speaking in the opening conference session at the Employee Benefits Summit 2008 in Jerez, Financial Times’ columnist Richard Donkin told HR and ...