All articles by Debi O'Donovan – Page 10
-
Article
Senior benefits managers invited to Employee Benefits Summit 2013
The Summit brings together senior benefits directors from organsations with more than 1,000 staff to network with each other and to discuss the future of the industry with the most influential suppliers, consultants and industry commentators.Now in its eighth year, this highly-regarded event will give the industry a chance to ...
-
Article
Leading experts to speak at Employee Benefits Summit 2013
Stephen Gay, director of life, savings and protection at the Association of British Insurers, talking on: ‘Restoring confidence in pensions’.Panel with Deborah Hargreaves, director at the High Pay Centre; Roger Barker, head of corporate governance at the Institute of Directors and Claire Morland, head of compensation at Man Group, discussing: ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: Are we finally getting pensions on track?
Anyone who knows me well, will know I prefer to be an optimist. This is particularly true when it comes to pensions savings and trying to do the right thing by employees.Although I acknowledge there are lots of if, buts and maybes with auto-enrolment, I am 100% behind it. So ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: Pay a living wage so State benefits are not needed
This week the government announced that in October the minimum wage for adults will increase to £6.31 an hour and that compliance to this law will be enforced more strongly.While this is to be welcomed, I even more strongly back the Living Wage campaign which calls for a minimum hourly ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: Tweak while you work
I am pleased to see that the government is consulting on tweaks to its auto-enrolment legislation.Although many of the proposed changes were foreseen many months ago, that is no reason to delay putting them in place now.There are already fears of a provider crunch by the end of this year, ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: What did Thatcherism do for employee benefits?
In a week when everyone is reflecting on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, I have decided to take a quick look at which employee benefits were launched into the workplace during her time as prime minister.Those in the world of pensions and benefits may have already been reminded that group personal pensions ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: Egging on healthy engagement at work
Last week I did a speaking stint on the same platform as a couple of Towers Watson consultants who were talking about their latest health and wellbeing research.As I sat and listened to their presentation it struck me how leading UK HR and benefits managers are really ‘getting’ employee health ...
-
Article
Debi O'Donovan: Three most important things to do with benefits
Although I have written and spoken on the topic for 15 years, looking directly at the coalface is a very different matter. I resisted the temptation to list all the benefits I would like, although I could not resist asking why we still did not use pensions salary sacrifice. Instead, ...
-
Video
Jill Cunnison: Top tips to tackle stress and mental wellbeing
Jill Cunnison, head of benefits and HR operations at Capital One, talks to Debi O’Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits, during Employee Benefits Live 2012 about what HR and benefits managers can do to tackle stress and mental wellbeing in the workplace.She shares clever ideas that can be simple to implement ...
-
Video
Debra Corey: Top tips for HR to get finance on side
Speaking at Employee Benefits Live 2012, Debra Corey, group compensation and benefits director at Merlin Entertainments, provided tips on how HR can get the finance director on side.This presentation followed one made by her colleague Rob Horrocks, finance director at Merlin Entertainments (see related video, top right).Corey discusses how benefits ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: three key benefits get a knockabout
In the Employee Benefits offices it has been of those weeks when you need lots of cake and biscuits to get you through (luckily our treat table is always well stocked). Then over and above the day job, to keep the excitement levels high, there have been three key announcements ...
-
Article
Clampdown on offshore payrolls
Budget 2013: The government will end the use of offshore employment companies in tax havens such as Jersey and Guernsey from April 2014.This confirmed an announcement made by the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander about the use of offshore payrolls.A full consultation will be announced in May. Budget ...
-
Article
Do not try to engage staff in pension investments
It is a bad idea to try to engage staff in their pension pots, said experts at the National Association of Pension Funds Investment Conference 2013, held in Edinburgh.Employers and pensions professionals running defined contribution (DC) contract-based pensions schemes, such as group personal pensions (GPPs) and stakeholder pensions, should reconsider ...
-
Article
Governance vacuum for contract-based schemes
There is a general lack of strong governance for default funds in contract-based pension schemes.Speaking at the annual National Association of Pension Funds Investment Conference 2013, Brian Henderson, a partner in Mercer’s investment division, said: “There is a total vacuum of governance for contract-based schemes.“Providers have commercial reasons to make ...
-
Video
Jon Bryant: How HR can use MI to engage staff in pensions
Jon Bryant, employee benefits consulting director at JLT, talks to Debi O’Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits, about using member data (also known as management information) to engage staff in their pension plan.Firstly, employers need to get the data into a single database, then they need to hit the right people ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: pension investments might get stuck
Many years ago a good friend, who at the time worked as a financial adviser, gave me a piece of advice: “Always pay fees for advice, never opt for commission – fees are ultimately a fraction of the cost of commission.”Needless to say, he is no longer a financial adviser. ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: can pensions people speak HR?
For the past few days I have been staying in the friendly climes of Edinburgh immersing myself in all things pensions investment, not least at the NAPF Investment Conference.While here, I have met up with all the leading pension providers based here (and Edinburgh does have more than its fair ...
-
Article
DOD’s blog: the banking bonus bandage
It strikes me that the European Commission’s and European Parliament’s preliminary agreement on limiting bonus payments in the financial services sector might be one big sticking plaster trying to cover a boil that needs serious lancing.Anyone following the UK outcry at the proposed limits will think there are three primary ...
-
Article
Employee Benefits Summit 2013 will take place in Spain from 25-27 June 2013
The Employee Benefits Summit brings together the most influential benefits professionals, providers, consultants, commentators and industry experts to discuss the future of the industry. This event was launched in 2006, and has become a highly inspirational annual event to attend.View full details: Employee Benefits SummitAfter the success of 2012, the ...
-
Article
Debi O'Donovan: New dawn in benefits communication
Naturally, this change in our habits is affecting the way bene?ts are being communicated in the workplace. Even where employers have vast numbers of staff who do not use computers in their daily work, most of them are likely to be carrying smartphones. Not maximising this handheld communication is rather ...