All Benefits for carers articles – Page 85
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Article
Childcare Vouchers - an employer's guide
Whether you are already offering Childcare Vouchers, or thinking about implementing a scheme, Click here for an employer's guide.
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Article
Extension to flexible working confirmed
The government has confirmed it will press ahead with plans to extend the right to request flexible working hours to 4.5 million extra people.However the Confederation of British Industry has expressed concern at the timing of the changes, which come into effect in April 2009.The extension allows all parents with ...
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Article
Japanese employers urged to give employees more time to reproduce
Key employers in Japan are tackling the country's demographic crisis head on with new work life balance strategies aimed to encourage employees to have more sex and spend time with the family.The country's leading employers have reportedly established family weeks and are encouraging employees to actively participate in boosting the ...
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Article
Abbey launches emergency care for staff
Abbey has introduced an an emergency care service for its 16,000 staff to access carers for children and elderly dependents at the last minute.The bank, which is part of the Santander group, will provide staff with access to a twenty-four hour database of contacts through which they will be able ...
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Supplier article
Anthony Arter, head of pensions at Eversheds: Keep pace with maternity law changes
The laws governing maternity leave and benefits have come under the spotlight after the adoption of new regulations. As this area of the law continues to evolve, it is important for employers to keep pace.Benefits entitlement during maternity leave is set to change for women with babies due on or ...
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Article
Benefits for the family
Many benefits packages are still tailored to suit the traditional nuclear family but as social norms change, should employers look to benefits that have a broader appeal, asks Victoria Furness. Family life has changed dramatically in the past few decades. The number of single-person households has risen, cohabitation has increased ...
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Article
Government to review planned changes to flexible working
Plans to extend flexible hours to working parents will be revisited due to the current economic crisis.Although no decision have been made as yet, the government said it wants to look again at the appropriateness of new regulations in light of financial changes.The planned changes due to come into force ...
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Article
CIPD slams the government for sending out the' wrong message' on flexible working
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has said suggestions the government it may back track on its plans extend the right to request flexible working to parents of older children "send out the wrong message" to employers.It believes announcements made by business secretary Peter Mandelson that the government ...
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Article
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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Article
Buyer's guide to emergency childcare
Employer-funded childcare has become an increasingly popular and valued benefit for working parents. Employees' childcare arrangements, however, can fall apart suddenly and without warning, for example, if a childminder or nanny is taken sick, or the child is too ill to attend nursery.Employers can help by offering back-up emergency childcare ...
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Article
Herbert Smith offer workshops for staff to help them improve their kids’ writing skills
Herbert Smith has run an in-house parent support workshop for staff, focusing on helping employees to encourage their children to develop their writing skills.The sessions were run by Ready To Learn, and involved an ex-teacher visiting the office and explaining to parents how children are taught to write at school ...
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Article
Court rules carers must not be treated less favourably than other staff
The European Court of Justice has ruled that carers must not be treated less favourably than other employees whose circumstances are not materially different, for example those with childcare responsibilities. The case of Attridge Law v Coleman, in which Mrs Coleman alleged she suffered direct discrimination and harassment by association ...
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Article
Employers prepared to offer flexible working even if not obliged to do so
Most employers offer flexible working and would do so even if there were no legal right for employees to request it, according to research from the Institute of Directors and Unum.The Flexible Working - the new world of work survey of 500 business leaders shows 86 percent operate flexible working ...
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Article
Crawley Borough Council adds bikes and childcare vouchers
Crawley Borough Council has launched a cycle-to-work scheme and plans to introduce childcare vouchers by the end of July. The council currently provides an on-site nursery but this has limited places and only takes children aged between two and five years. It hopes the childcare vouchers will supplement this service. ...
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Article
Court rules against discrimination of carers
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that carers must not be treated less favourably than other employees whose circumstances are not materially different, for example those with childcare responsibilities.In the case of Attridge Law v Coleman, the ECJ ruled in favour of Sharon Coleman, a single mother of ...
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Article
Communicating paternity benefits to male staff
Male staff may not be aware of their entitlement to childcare benefits or might feel awkward about claiming them, so employers should ensure they know the facts, says Nicola SullivanIn the first few months of their children's lives, some men may feel they are forced to play a secondary role, ...
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Article
A network of support for working parents and carers
In the war for talent, employers must carefully consider the way in which they support working parents and carers, who often represent a significant proportion of the workforce. The ageing population means this could become even more of an issue, as increasing numbers of employees find themselves caring for both ...
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Case Studies
Newcastle City Council scores with football imagery
Newcastle City Council uses football-themed communication materials to promote its childcare voucher scheme to male staff.It revamped the way it promotes the benefit at the beginning of this year after the scheme, which launched in 2006, received a lower-than-average take-up. The HR team worked with its provider, Accor Services, to ...
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Article
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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Analysis
Buyer’s guide to childcare
Of the four main options employers have when providing childcare for staff, vouchers and emergency childcare have seen the strongest growth in the past year, says Alison ColemanFlexibility is often said to be the key to an engaged workforce, so it is perhaps not surprising that the more flexible childcare ...