All articles by Debbie Lovewell-Tuck – Page 62
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Case Studies
Employer Profile: Malmaison
Article in fullHistorically, the hotel industry is not known for its leading-edge approach to reward. However, increasing competition both for staff and customers coupled with a typically high level of employee turnover and the need for organisations to grow and expand has prompted many employers in the sector to take ...
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Case Studies
Employer Profile: Carphone Warehouse
From its standing start in 1989, the Carphone Warehouse has been keen to retain its small company perks, but has had to adapt to recruit staff to support its move into new business areas, says Debbie LovewellArticle in fullCarphone Warehouse has come a long way since its first store was ...
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Article
Hospitals trust reduces staff absence by 37%
Lewisham Hospitals NHS Trust has cut absence rates by 37% in just over three months, after introducing an absence reporting system. The scheme, which requires staff to report absence to a trained nurse, was rolled out to the trust's 2,613 employees in March after levels reached 5.2%. The absence rate ...
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Article
News update - Public sector funds flex with holiday
Rushcliffe Borough Council is to launch a flexible benefits scheme through which employees must sell holiday in order to purchase benefits.Instead of being given a set amount to spend on perks, staff will be able to sell up to 22 hours or three days worth of holiday a year to ...
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Article
Flex aids post-merger plans at telecoms firm
Kingston Communications has rolled out a flexible benefits scheme and absence management plan to 700 staff at its new communications subsidiary Affiniti, formed following a business acquisition spree.After acquiring several organisations in 2004, Kingston merged two firms with an existing division to form national communications firm Affiniti.Jason Boyle, group head ...
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Article
News update - Horse trade in bid to stabilise staff terms
The British Horseracing Board (BHB) has published the results of the first stage of a drive to revamp pay and benefits for stable yard employees.The industry, which has come under fire due to the perceived low wages and number of suicides among stable workers, set up the Stable and Stud ...
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Article
News update - Abbey quits voluntary benefits
Abbey at Work has withdrawn from the voluntary benefits market on commercial grounds, leaving up to 200 clients without a long-term provider. It is no longer promoting corporate schemes and has stopped accepting new business.It has also written to clients asking them to remove details of Abbey at Work's voluntary ...
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Article
Question Time: A Christmas quiz
We keep something of a yuletide log of just how clever benefits managers can be, says Debbie LovewellArticle in fullEveryone claims to suffer for their art at one time or another. So with the season of festive fun fast approaching, Employee Benefits put benefits managers under the spotlight with a ...
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Case Studies
Employer Profile: Google
Growing from three to 4,000 staff in seven years, search engine Google is using its company culture to attract new recruits, says Debbie LovewellArticle in fullI rounded off my time at Google sitting on a sunny balcony overlooking London’s West End, sipping a cold drink as our photographer snapped away. ...
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Analysis
Share plans: Interview with professor Andrew Pendleton, University of York
Share schemes may support wider social issues such as giving staff a savings discipline and can be used to reinforce performance for wider HR ends, but University of York professor Andrew Pendleton warns against unrealistic expectations of overnight, says Debbie LovewellArticle in fullEmployee share plans are a little like air ...
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Article
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing reduces absence
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing has cut staff sickness absence rates by more than six days per employee per year after introducing a range of benefits to tackle the problem.One of the solutions was to introduce an absence reporting system, which requires employees to inform trained nurses of their absence rather than ...
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Article
Perks, including childcare, launched at Notts CC
Nottingham City Council is to relaunch its benefits package in a bid to make staff feel valued and to recruit more employees from the local area.The scheme, which will roll out in October, is intended to improve the image of the council as an employer and boost satisfaction among existing ...
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Article
Bringing age laws to book
Borders has changed its defined contribution pension scheme to avoid falling foul of incoming age discrimination laws.The book retailer switched pension providers to enable it to offer a scheme where employer contribution levels were based on employees' position in the company rather than on their age.Anna Lloyd, regional HR manager, ...
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Article
John Lewis Partnership launches pay sensitive perks
The John Lewis Partnership has launched a home computing scheme and childcare vouchers despite the majority of its staff being low paid. Adam Brooke, manager, benefits strategy at the Partnership, which has over 63,000 staff, admitted that the scheme was a challenge to introduce."Because it's so new for the Partnership, ...
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Analysis
Employers move away from car ownership plans
If you read nothing else, read this...Communicate the move to an alternative scheme early, and make clear the business case and benefits to employees.Failing to achieve predicted cost savings is often behind employers' move away from employee car ownership plans (Ecops).Company cars and those in an Ecop are maintained in ...
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Article
IT firm uses flex to simplify private fuel
Xansa has simplified its tax reporting process by offering private fuel through its flexible benefits scheme. Previously, employees could opt in and out of the benefit at any time and pay back what fuel they had not used at the end of each year. Jackie Radford, HR consultant at the ...
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Article
News update - Honda staff given wellbeing coaching
Honda held a health awareness week to boost employees' knowledge about health issues and improve staff wellbeing.The week, which was run in conjunction with charity Slough Occupational Health for 480 staff at the car and motorbike manufacturer's Slough site, covered a broad range of issues such as healthy eating, fitness, ...
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Article
News update - Bus firm incentive helps joiners stay on
First Group has improved its rate of recruitment since introducing a loyalty bonus of 50p an hour for new bus drivers. Staff can only access the money, which is notionally paid into their credit union account, once they have been with the company for a year.Michael Milne, finance director for ...
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Article
News update - Staff pension top ups via flex
Nationwide Building Society is to tempt staff to contribute earlier to their pension by allowing them to top up contributions through its flexible benefits plan.Employees, including its lowest paid staff, can choose to make contributions in multiples of £10 up to a maximum of 15% of their salary in order ...