All Case studies articles – Page 82
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Case Studies
British Antarctic Survey's staff enjoy a range of benefits
While Captain Scott battled diminishing rations, inadequate clothing and a leaky ship, today's polar explorers have it somewhat better.British Antarctic Survey (BAS) staff enjoy a raft of perks, including 30 days annual leave and a defined benefit pension scheme, plus state-of-the-art bases equipped with on-site gyms and chefs. Fiona Brazil, ...
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Case Studies
Direct Communications uses online fleet risk tools to improve safety
Walkie-talkie supplier Direct Communications has used online fleet risk tools to improve safety, and to reduce the number of accidents and the cost of insurance.It needed to improve standards after two company cars were written off and four others were involved in incidents in 2005.Fleet manager, Gavin Bailey, explains: "The ...
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Case Studies
Pfizer anticipates smoking ban's impact on its company cars
Global pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which has 2,200 company car drivers, is currently grappling with the introduction of the smoking ban in England.Lynne Bundle, fleet and mobile phone manager, explains: "We have sent out some guidelines but there are still some grey areas in that [we] have 635 opt-out drivers [who ...
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Case Studies
British American Tobacco improves financial education for staff
Maturing employee share options under British American Tobacco's (BAT) sharesave scheme provided the impetus for its HR team to improve financial education for its employees.Nina Crossen, HR project manager at BAT, says: "Because the share price had increased enormously there was good profit to be gained by employees and this ...
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Case Studies
T-Mobile addresses drivers attitudes to keep them safe
T-Mobile believes it is not enough to impose rules and checks on employees, it also works on addressing driver beliefs and attitudes to help keep them safe.The firm's policies cover document checking, effective accident management and the use of mobile phones when driving.But it also thinks more strategically. Frank Arthur, ...
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Case Studies
Conchango offers its staff Amaps
Business and technology consultancy Conchango ditched its company car scheme, after it became too costly and complex.The Egham-based company, which employs 300 people in the UK, now offers authorised mileage allowances for staff (Amaps). Mike Altendorf, CEO at Conchango UK, says: "We moved to this current model from the fleet ...
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Case Studies
ITN proposed DB scheme changes
In November last year ITN proposed changes to its defined benefit scheme to reduce its own payments by £10 million a year.The scheme has about 800 members and a deficit of £205 million despite cash injections.Unions were told that the company wanted to reduce its contribution, which averages 28% of ...
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Case Studies
GNER rolls out salary sacrifice
GNER offers a range of benefits through salary sacrifice arrangements and was keen to add a tax-efficient NCP car parking scheme to its package.This was perceived to be of significant benefit to staff because it has a number of employees who work unsociable hours and so are unable to travel ...
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Case Studies
Center Parcs replaced trust-based pension with GPP
Cost was a key concern when holiday company Center Parcs decided to close its trust-based pension scheme and replace it with a group personal pension.Tim Parker, the company secretary, says: "We wanted to keep cost to a minimum without sacrificing quality of investment. Many of our 6,000 staff are part-time ...
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Case Studies
Skipton Building Society offers staff stakeholder pension
Skipton Building Society offers its employees a company-sponsored stakeholder pension from Norwich Union. It recently ran a national roadshow to encourage staff to increase their pension contributions from the previous minimum of 0.5% to at least 3%, and take a more active interest in the scheme performance by monitoring it ...
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Case Studies
Bristol University shifted to permanent contracts
The shift from fixed-term to permanent contracts can clearly be seen by the experience of Bristol University.Just over two years ago around 99% of its 1,100 research staff were on short-term deals. Now this figure is around 48%, according to the personnel manager for policy development Christian Carter. Fixed-term contracts ...
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Case Studies
BSkyB bosses offers staff green benefits
BSkyB offers a host of green benefits for staff as part of the organisation's environmental strategy, the Bigger Picture.Under one initiative, it issues carbon credit cards to employees onto which it loads points for environmentally-friendly acts of behaviour, such as walking or cycling to work. This can then earn them ...
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Case Studies
Kwik-Fit Financial Services uses providers to limit admin burden
Kwik-Fit Financial Services, which employs around 840 call centre staff, is keen to limit the administration around its flexible benefits scheme.Elizabeth McVeigh, senior HR co-ordinator, explains: "We have had problems in the past where flex products have been an administrative burden, but having providers offering straight-forward and easy-to-use benefits makes ...
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Case Studies
Danone offers staff learning and development accounts
Danone UK, the dairy arm of the company's food and drink business offers a learning and development account, alongside a wellbeing account, through its flexible benefits scheme.The accounts, which receive half-matched employer funding, were introduced this January.So far, a quarter of the 90 employees in the Danone Dairies division have ...
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Case Studies
G4S Cash Services outsources its payroll
G4S Cash Services, part of security firm Group 4 Securicor, outsourced its payroll in 1997 while running complex admin for 9,000 staff.When the company decided to outsource, it opted to use a provider it had previously worked with. Gavin Carter, former payroll services manager at G4S Cash Services and now ...
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Case Studies
BBC offers pre-school visits to editorial staff
The BBC has extended its training programme to include school visits for editorial staff on its pre-school and education publications.Previously, employees in its education and pre-school learning departments, who work on titles such as CBeebies magazine, could access advice from experts in pre-school education. The BBC has now extended this ...
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Case Studies
Enterprise Rent-A-Car has extended compulsory retirement age
Enterprise Rent-A-Car extended its compulsory retirement age of 65 years to all employees, following the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) regulations 2006 last October.This had previously only applied to its senior management team, while the rest of its workforce had no set retirement age.Jim Burrell, senior vice president for ...
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Case Studies
McDonald's lobbies to revise McJob definition
McDonald’s will campaign to have the dictionary definition of the term McJob revised.The Oxford English Dictionary defined a McJob as “an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, especially, one created by the expansion of the service sector”. The UK arm of the fast-food chain is planning a petition to get ...
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Case Studies
Equals One and Encore Recruitment has found that flex works
Recruitment consultancy Equals One and Encore Recruitment has a bulging trophy cabinet full of awards for innovation, particularly in the flexible working field. Director Vivienne Duke says: "Without doubt, flexible working [arrangements] improve staff turnover and [reduce] staff absenteeism, and promote a healthy, happy workplace."The company has offered flexible working ...
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Case Studies
Employer profile: EC Harris
In an industry ravaged by skills shortages, multinational property practice EC Harris needs to keep a close measure of rivals in the recruitment stakes, says Vicki TaylorThe UK’s winning bid for the 2012 Olympics has caused some controversy, especially in London where householders are expected to foot council tax rises ...