All articles by Ben Jones – Page 7
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Article
Keep Wales Tidy signs health screening deal with Screenetics
Keep Wales Tidy, the body which works to protect and enhance the country’s environment, has agreed a deal Screenetics to provide healthcare screening.The organisation is implementing the scheme via a cash plan with Simplyhealth to give employees access to a comprehensive set of tests designed to help optimise health and ...
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Article
Chime chooses Healix for healthcare
Chime Communications, the public relations, advertising and brand management group, has signed up to Healix 100 from healthcare and medical assistance specialist, Healix Group.†Under the new agreement Chime has replaced its private medical insurance (PMI) with a Healix Healthcare Trust, which aims to deliver a better quality of service, combined ...
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Interview with Miranda Rosenbaum, reward manager, N Brown Group
Miranda Rosenbaum, reward manager at N Brown Group, counts a desire to succeed as a major factor in her professional progress.Miranda Rosenbaum is living proof that an interest in and enthusiasm for a subject area can be every bit as important as academic qualifications.She left school in 1993 with five ...
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Analysis
News Analysis: The impending replacement of sick notes with fit notes
With the arrival of fit notes to replace sick notes in April, employers will have to rethink their arrangements for dealing with staff absence, says Ben JonesA major change in the way sickness absence is handled comes into force on 6 April. From that date, fit notes will replace doctors' ...
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Article
Two-tier executive pay emerging from recession
The average total pay of FTSE 100 boards fell by almost 6% last year, excluding share option schemes.Companies which have come strongly through the recession are able to offer better remuneration than those which have struggled, according to research from RTF Navigator, a pay database.Each FTSE 100 board received on ...
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Article
Fitforlife launches stress management tool
A new product has been launched offering ways to combat stress in the workplace.Fitforlife.tel is a structured six-week telephone programme, where a dedicated coach gives employees techniques on managing stress and anxiety, as well as teaching them how to adapt to change.The programme is targeted at individuals who feel their ...
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Article
Hymans Robertson research: pension risk transfer market to double
Pension scheme risk transfers deals worth £7.7bn were completed in 2009, and this figure will double in 2010, according to research from pensions consultancy Hymans Robertson.The survey, Managing Pension Scheme Risk Report 2009, showed that the longevity swaps market took off last year with deals covering £4.1bn of pension scheme ...
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Article
Grove Pensions Solutions launches new service
Grove Pensions Solutions (GPS) has launched new pensions offering aimed at employers with small defined benefit (DB) schemes. †The service Grove Bundled is based on a back-to-basics review of DB service and consultancy models. It works by utilising lower-cost providers, establishing an over-arching risk management regime and tailoring delivery through ...
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Article
BT outlines pension deficit payment plan
Telecoms firm BT has said it will pay off its £9bn pensions deficit over the next 17 years.The organisation's valuation and recovery plan will see BT pay off the deficit at £525m per annum over the first three years, £583m in the fourth year and increasing at 3% each year ...
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Article
DC pension investment consultation paper launched
Best practice in defined contribution (DC) schemes is the subject of a new consultation paper published by the Investment Governance Group (IGG).The IGG, a group of senior figures representing all parts of the private work-based pension environment, set up a subgroup to address the issue, and the consultation paper is ...
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Article
Reducing benefits unpopular cost-cutting measure, says study
Reducing benefits and cutting salary are two of the most unpopular measures that staff consider an employer can make when looking to cut costs.According to IFF Research's Attitudes to Work study, just 4% of employees said reducing benefits would be their preferred cost-cutting measure if employers were forced to tighten ...
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Article
New health assessment service for over 40s launched
Employers, including Tesco, are introducing a new NHS service to staff which gives over-40s a free and confidential online lifestyle assessment, after it went live today.NHS MidLifeCheck covers issues such as smoking, healthy eating, alcohol, physical activity and emotional wellbeing. It tells the user what they are doing well and ...
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Article
Pension Protection Fund to face 'increasing challenges'
The head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will face increasing challenges as more schemes are transferred to it.Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said that although the PPF has done well to retain a healthy balance sheet in trying economic times ...
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Article
Buyer's guide to corporate health screening
Employees can be screened for a variety of health problems, and the investment pays off by preventing potential sickness absence and making staff feel cared for, says Ben JonesMany employees often feel compelled to soldier on when they feel unwell, and may discover they have a serious health condition only ...
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Article
Pret A Manger gives staff £10 bonus as sales hit £1m in one day
Pret A Manger awarded its 4,000 employees a £10 pre-Christmas bonus after the company made £1 million-worth of sales in a single day. It also launched an employee assistance programme (EAP).The landmark sales figure was reached on 10 December and most staff received the £10 bonus the following day. Employees ...
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Article
GlaxoSmithKline appoints new fleet provider
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has awarded Zenith Provecta the contract to manage the fleet of 1,200 vehicles under its Employee Car Ownership scheme (ECOS).The contract includes maintenance, motor insurance, breakdown recovery, accident management, short-term hire and insurance that covers the difference between the actual cash value of the leased vehicle ...
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Article
Allen and Overy aims to retain talent with flexible working
Law firm Allen and Overy has announced plans to allow partners to work part-time in an attempt to retain its female staff.Partners will be allowed to use flexible working as part of the new arrangement and will either be able to work a four-day week or get an extra 52 ...
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Article
Executive pay outstripped by UK average increase
Executives’ pay has been outstripped by UK average pay increases for the first time in a decade, according to new research.Last year’s national average earnings increase (2.5%), outstripped FTSE 100 (1%) and FTSE 250 (0%) base pay increases for the first time in a decade, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) ...
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Article
Commission outlines new gender pay reporting proposals
Employers that choose to analyse and report publicly their gender pay gaps will receive limited immunity from investigation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has announced.As part of the commission’s drive to increase gender equality in the workplace, this step is aimed at encouraging organisations to adopt voluntary measures to ...
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Article
WorldatWork Survey: US employers 'still conservative on pay'
More than a third of US organisations still feel they are in recession and not in a position to unfreeze pay, a survey says.Even as the economy starts showing signs of life, a majority plan to remain conservative when it comes to pay practices in 2010, according to the WorldatWork ...