All articles by David Woods – Page 13
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Article
Royal Mail Group renews occupational health provision
Royal Mail Group has renewed its occupational health programme for the next three years.The occupational health programme, provided by Atos Healthcare, will continue to offer a 24-hour employee assistance programme (EAP), sickness absence management, pre-employment screening, driver medicals, health screening, vaccinations services and programmes to educate the firm's 185,000 staff ...
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Article
Unions reject prime minister’s proposals for pay contract
Public sector unions have rejected prime minister, Gordon Brown's, proposals for a three-year pay contract across the public sector.In his monthly press conference, Brown announced the government would be looking towards long-term public sector pay settlements, replacing annual pay negotiations with a three-year settlement of 2%, as part of the ...
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Article
Product in focus: Gym membership
Encouraging staff to improve fitness levels can help to reduce sickness absence, but employers must consider tax issues around perk, says David WoodsGym membership as a benefit typically involves offering staff discounted access to gym facilities, or providing a fitness centre on site for them to use.Employers that opt for ...
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Article
Philips Electronics to close trust-based DC scheme
Philips Electronics will close its trust-based money purchase pension scheme in April and replace it with a contract-based stakeholder plan in an attempt to cut administration costs, eradicate age-related contributions and encourage employees to save for their retirement.Under the existing money purchase scheme, employer contributions are fixed depending on the ...
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Article
Pension schemes' surplus on the increase
The final salary pension plans of FTSE 100 companies are expected to have reached an aggregate surplus of £15bn by the end of 2007.According to Deloitte, it is also predicted that the FTSE 100 surplus will have have risen to £30bn by the end of 2008.The main reasons for the ...
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Article
Truck-Lite and Surfachem outsource fleet management
Truck-Lite and Surfachem have outsourced fleet management to Zenith Vehicle Contracts.Truck-Lite, a truck light manufacturer, signed a deal which includes accident management and involves the sale and leaseback of more than 60 vehicles. The vehicles will be provided under contract hire.Surfachem, a supplier of chemicals for use in the personal ...
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Analysis
Should employers focus on their staff's health or wealth?
Employers often want to ensure staff are healthy and financially secure, but they may not be able to afford to invest in perks for both, so how can they decide which of the two is most important, asks David WoodsEvery new year most of us find ourselves making the same ...
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Case StudiesEmployer profile: Whitbread
Leisure firm Whitbread is currently reviewing benefits as part of its aim to harmonise company culture across brands, says David WoodsThe name Whitbread has for many years been synonymous with the brewing industry. Its founder Samuel Whitbread set up the first mass production brewery in Britain more than 250 years ...
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Article
Childcare costs continue to rise
The Daycare Trust has urged parents to take advantage of childcare vouchers from employers as nursery fees continue to increase at a faster rate than above inflation.The Annual childcare costs survey from the Daycare Trust shows that parents, on average, now pay £7,000 to £8,000 for a full-time nursery place ...
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Article
Redrow introduces voluntary benefits
Property developer, Redrow has introduced a voluntary benefits scheme.The plan, entitled Redrow Plus, includes a range of high street discounts on travel, health and leisure, food and entertainment, as well as motoring.Staff will be able to gain points each time they make an online purchase at over 1,800 retailers and ...
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Article
British American Tobacco extends fleet contract
British American Tobacco (BAT) has extended its fleet management and contract hire agreement for 400 company cars for the next three years.Viv Windrum, fleet manager, said:"We conducted a very serious review to ensure we are getting the best fleet management service available within the industry."Having re-satisfied ourselves at this point, ...
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Article
Busy Bees acquires nine new nurseries
Busy Bees Childcare has acquired the TLC nursery group which operates nine nurseries in the Midlands and South East, taking the number of nurseries it operates to 133.The move takes Busy Bees into the public sector and public healthcare markets as TLC has nurseries based at a number of hospitals. ...
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Article
Drivers involved in fatal accidents may not be jailed
The Sentencing Guidelines Committee has announced that drivers who kill could escape jail despite last month's recommendations from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which stated that drivers using hand-held devices including mobile phones could face two years in jail.This could have an adverse effect on employees who drive company cars, ...
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Article
Accor Services acquires 62% stake in Motivano
Accor Services has acquired a 62% stake in benefits provider Motivano UK and the current management of Motivano UK will remain shareholders at 38%.Accor Services bought the stake previously owned by venture capital firm Geocapital Partner.The current management team will continue to develop Motivano within Accor Services, enabling their clients, ...
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Article
Trinity Mirror pays £108m into DB pension schemes
Trinity Mirror has agreed to make immediate one off payments totalling £108m into its defined benefit (DB) schemes to pave the way for a share buy back programme.The group made the move in order to secure clearance from the Pensions Regulator for a return of capital to shareholders. It will ...
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Article
West Lothian Council launches voluntary benefits portal
West Lothian Council is providing staff with an online portal giving them access to all its voluntary benefits, including local discounts.This is the first time that the council’s voluntary benefits will appear in one place.The new platform called Reward Gateway has been created by provider Asperity and communicated to staff ...
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Article
Staff undervalue Christmas parties
Almost two thirds of workers (63%) would prefer not to go to their staff Christmas party, while 20% think that they are awful and would do anything they could to avoid going.According to research from YouGov and Croner, 43% of respondents said that Christmas parties are “okay” but they would ...
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Article
SIPPs to hold funds accrued by contracting out of state second pension
The government has opened a consultation on draft regulations which will allow self-invested personal pension schemes (Sipps) to hold protected rights, which are funds accrued by contracting out of the second state pension.Sipps are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and existing restrictions preventing schemes from holding protected rights are ...
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Article
Health insurance valued by finance professionals
Finance professionals value health insurance more highly than their company pension overall, according to the Robert Half International Financial directions survey 2007.When 5,200 financial professionals identified the perks they value from a predetermined list, health insurance proved to be the most popular, with 39% of respondents selecting the benefit, compared ...
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Article
Senior managers more engaged than other staff
Employees' job roles have an impact on engagement with senior managers being more engaged than colleagues in professional or support roles. Only 14% of professionals and 18% of support staff are highly engaged in their job, compared with 41% of senior managers, according to a study of engagement levels among ...