All articles by Debi O'Donovan – Page 16
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Article
Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Younger generation will reshape the workplace
Last month, young people grabbed much of this country’s news coverage. Whether it was on the topic of A-level results, the scramble to get into university a year ahead of fee increases or, much more dramatically, the England riots – youngsters were all over our screens and papers.Over the past ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Plan ahead to answer the age-old question
October is D-Day for scrapping the default retirement age (DRA). I expect that, for most British workers, it will go unnoticed. I also predict that it will not be too many years before we all find it quaint or outrageous that employers were ever allowed to discard staff in such ...
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Survitec Group Pension Scheme to use dynamic de-risking services
Survitec Group Pension Scheme has selected Mercer’s Dynamic De-risking Solution to help move the scheme to a fully funded and de-risked position.The trustee of the scheme for the manufacturer of high-quality marine safety and survival equipment has assets of approximately £43 million, and has been taking advantage of market rises ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: You'd be a twit to ignore what's happening online
At last month’s Employee Benefits Summit, I boldly announced to delegates that we would be Tweeting live from the event and invited them to do the same. The response was 60 or so very blank faces and just a few nods.Although LinkedIn has become mainstream for benefits managers (the EmployeeBenefits ...
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Employee Benefits Award 2011 winners
The 2011 Employee Benefits Awards took place at the HAC in London on 9 June. Hosted by Stephen Mangan on behalf of Employee Benefits magazine and celebrating the best in benefits, just 21 winners were selected from a massive list of over 100 finalists. This year the awards attracted over ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Acquisition targets need protection on pensions
News has emerged that leading pension schemes have asked The Takeover Panel to ensure that acquiring companies take account of a target company’s retirement plan when making a bid.In recent years, it has become common practice for acquiring companies to make themselves fully aware of a target company’s pension obligations, ...
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Johnson and Johnson rolls out global compensation strategy
Johnson and Johnson’s newly implemented global compensation strategy is allowing it to develop single career models across its businesses, improve succession planning, integrate newly acquired companies more easily, and present a more uniform face at graduate recruitment fairs.The rollout of the global strategy to its 250 businesses across 70 countries ...
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Debi O’Donovan: Total reward in the USA
Opening keynote speaker for the WorldAtWork Total Rewards 2011 conference Daniel Pink, business writer and author of the recently published ‘Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us’, said: “I am convinced we are using the wrong technology for engagement.”In this case he uses technology in a very broad sense ...
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Debi O’Donovan: Are sales people coin-operated?
Tell the average line manager that sales people are ‘coin-operated’ and you are likely to get a wry but knowing smile. It is a common assumption that if you stop paying the sales force commission, they will stop selling.But this assumption is wrong, according to Daniel Pink, business writer and ...
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WorldAtWork Total Rewards 2011: Abbott Laboratories roll out total reward statements to Ireland
US-headquartered Abbott Laboratories has seen a 36% take up of the total reward statements (TRS) it launched to its 4,000 Ireland-based staff last October. This compares to the current over-90% take-up rate among its 32,000 US staff.Speaking at WorldAtWork’s Total Rewards 2011 conference in San Diego, Denise Johansen, director of ...
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Debi O’Donovan: Health benefits march to a different tune
“Our show begins in five minutes,” booms the tannoy announcement over the upbeat music ahead of the 8:30am opening session of WorldAtWork’s Total Rewards 2011 conference.The two thousand-seater ballroom at the San Diego Convention Centre is filling up with coffee-clutching, Blackberry-wielding reward managers ready for two-and-a-half days of inspiration on ...
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Employee Benefits’ owners, Centaur Media, acquires The Forum for Expatriate Management
Employee Benefits’ owners, Centaur Media Plc, today announced the acquisition of The Forum for Expatriate Management (FEM).The FEM has built the world’s leading membership community of global mobility professionals and operates associated internet services and events globally, including major conferences, exhibitions and awards.Geoff Wilmot, CEO of Centaur said: “FEM is ...
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Employee Benefits journalists win honours at Towers Watson Excellence in HR Awards
Debbie Lovewell, deputy editor at Employee Benefits magazine, won ‘Employee benefits and pensions journalist of the year’ at last night’s Towers Watson’s Excellence in HR Awards.Over the eight years Lovewell has worked at Employee Benefits she has established herself as a highly regarded journalist in this specialised sector.Nicola Sullivan, senior ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Tax and NI merger plan debate will run and run
At first glance, last month’s Budget did not contain any unexpected major announcements.Most points had been heavily trailed or confirmed what we already knew. However, there were a few new nuggets that could have broader ramifications over the coming years and decades, depending on how they play out.The idea of ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Integration will be the norm as benefits evolve
Normally the world of benefits evolves slowly rather than undergoing rapid revolution. However, for benefits, the landscape is currently reforming apace.Obviously, next month’s tax and national insurance changes will have a major impact, particularly on the reward packages of high-earners. What will be interesting to see is that what is ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Here's some free advice: give us value for money
?Listening to many financial advisers, you would think the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review in 2013 will adversely affect employee savings as they lose access to ‘free’ advice.I heartily disagree. It will bring transparency to the charging structure of financial products and dispel the myth that the advice is ...
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Employee Benefits reporter shortlisted for media award
Employee Benefits’ senior reporter Nicola Sullivan made the top three in the ‘Journalist To Watch’ category at WorkWorld Media Awards 2010 last night.The awards, now in their 24th year, are run by the Work Foundation.
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Hold onto your hats for a year of challenges
If you like a challenge, then 2011 is going to be your year. Reward managers of all disciplines are facing months of implementing new plans and rules across a variety of benefits in order to comply with, or mitigate, incoming tax and legislation changes. This year will not be for ...
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Debi O'Donovan: Don't put the brakes on bikes-for-work schemes
In recent months, several benefits and HR managers have pulled their bikes-for-work schemes because of HM Revenue and Customs’ rules on how bicycles should be valued at the end of the loan period.This is a sad state of affairs for a good benefit that, although taken up by very few ...
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Case Studies
Case study: Moneyway gives flexible benefits character
To promote its 2010 flexible benefits scheme, call centre-based bank Moneyway made an 80-second video featuring FlexiBen, the little plastic figure that represents its benefits package.Anne McKenning, group head of HR of Secure Trust Bank, of which Moneyway is a subsidiary, says: "We decided to bring Ben to life and ...