All articles by Debi O'Donovan – Page 23
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Just three FTSE 100 firms have a final salary plan open to new staff
Tesco, Diageo and Cadbury are the only FTSE 100 companies still running a defined benefit pension scheme that is open to new members. The remainder have all introduced measures to reduce or freeze benefits completely for new members.This finding comes as part of Lane Clark & Peacock’s (LCP) 16th annual ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Can public sector rise to the challenge on DB pensions?
The Employee Benefits/Hymans Robertson Pensions Research 2009, published this month, shows that an overwhelming 87% of employers now offer a defined contribution (DC) pension scheme. This is now almost double the number of organisations that offer a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme (but bear in mind that most respondents are ...
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RBC launches new Qrops pension for non-resident UK employees
Royal Bank of Canada Employee and Executive Services (RBC Cees), has launched two Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (Qrops).The Qrops are designed for individuals, but RBC Cees also provides trustee and administration services for employers wishing to establish their own Qrops.The products, the Fermain Qrops and the Havelet Qrops, have ...
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Childcare voucher excellence to be promoted through Code of Practice
Leading UK childcare voucher providers, Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers; Grass Roots Group; and Sodexo Pass, are to use the findings of a consultation to inform a Code of Practice on childcare voucher excellence.The Code of Practice will be launched this autumn, overseen by a new representative body for the childcare ...
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Sky rewards staff with festival of fun
Sky is rewarding its employees for delivering strong results in tough times with Skyfest – an ambitious music and entertainment festival.This follows on from awarding all permanent staff members 100 free shares in January to vest in 2012, giving them a stake in the future success of the business to ...
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New A-to-Z list of expenses and benefits for employers
HM Revenue and Customs has launched a new A-to-Z guide of expenses and benefits, to enable employers to check their tax, NICs and reporting requirements for each type.Each page links to the relevant technical manuals for employers needing very detailed information.Read Expenses and benefits A to ZView other articles on ...
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Macmillan selects Hymans Robertson for investment advice
The £85m Macmillan Limited Pension and Life Assurance Plan has appointed Hymans Robertson to provide investment consulting services.The role will include advising on investment strategy, plan structure and manager selection.Catherine Fleming, secretary for The Pension and Life Assurance Plan of Macmillan Limited, said: “We were very impressed by Hymans Robertson’s ...
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Asperity Employee Benefits achieves security standard
Asperity Employee Benefits has been accredited by BSI to ISO EN 27001 the internationally-recognised standard for information security management.The standard ensures companies understand and classify the data that they hold on individuals and the risks and threats associated with that data. The standard ensures risks are managed through process and ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Time is running out for rethink on retirement and pensions
All of us in benefits know that current retirement and pensions practice cannot continue. No politician wants to tell the people that to make the state pension work, most of them cannot live until the official retirement age, or the sums simply do not add up.So the nation is being ...
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Royal Bank of Scotland win 'Most Effective International Benefits Strategy' at Employee Benefits Awards
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have won “Most Effective International Benefits Strategy” at the Employee Benefits Awards 2009, for the global implementation of their flexible benefits plan “RBSelect”. †RBS, who were entered for the award by Thomsons Online Benefits, beat off stiff competition from HSBC and Baker Hughes to take ...
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Employers not using limited pay budgets effectively say Watson Wyatt
Research from consultants, Watson Wyatt, has led to concerns that employers are not using limited pay budgets effectively.The Watson Wyatt survey found that less than a third of companies are targeting their reward budget on key employees. Moreover, where this is happening, the focus appears to target only high performers ...
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Rok wins award for digital media communication of employee benefits
Rok, the nation's local builder, has won “Most effective use of digital media to communicate benefits to staff” in the Employee Benefits Awards 2009 for their innovative DVD and online communication.Rok was named the winner after defeating McDonald’s Restaurants, Chevron, Aviva and Malmaison and Hotel du Vin.Rok Group specialises in ...
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Interview with industry body Group Risk Development (Grid)
These are exciting times for group risk perks as schemes adapt to meet changing workplace requirements, says industry body Group Risk Development (Grid). Debi O’Donovan reportsFor benefits that are rarely centre stage, group risk insurances are undergoing a dramatic, if gradual, metamorphosis. Perhaps the very fact that they are usually ...
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Four out of ten fleet managers believe drivers are against safety training
Four out of ten fleet managers believe their drivers would not be willing to take part in safety training.The findings, from the Arval-backed Corporate Vehicle Observatory (CVO), demonstrate that significant numbers of business drivers are resisting the opportunity to mitigate their road risk.The research found that 11% of respondents felt ...
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Pension funds backed bank remuneration in run up to crash
The vast majority of institutional investors did not challenge the remuneration reports of leading banks or the takeover of ABN Amro by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in the run up to the 2008 financial crash, the TUC reveals in its annual fund manager voting survey.The TUC‘s 2008 fund ...
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Employers get stricter with staff expenses
Almost half of employers have become stricter on personal expenses since the beginning of the economic downturn, with many willing to dismiss employees for persistent fraudulent claims, according to research by Croner, a provider of workplace information and consultancy services, part of Wolters Kluwer.In the survey of HR directors and ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Employers have gone back-to-basics with their benefits strategies
When judging for the 2009 Employee Benefits Awards, which takes place on 26 June 2009 it quickly became clear that employers have made a mass to return to good old fashioned benefits delivery. After several boom years where each scheme launched or relaunched appeared to outdo the last with clever ...
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Sales professionals pay outstrips that of colleagues
Both basic pay and bonuses are rising for sales professionals making these employees some of the best paid in business, according to The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s latest Croner Sales Rewards study.The average basic pay of sales staff exceeded that of their colleagues in marketing, finance and HR across most ...
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Tradeteam raises £30,000 for good causes
Employees at drinks logistics company Tradeteam have raised £30,000 for charities across the UK.The employees, from across its 28 distribution centres, walked, ran, climbed, decorated, mucked out and dressed up to raise £15,000 for local and national causes.The final total reached £30,000 thanks to Tradeteam’s ‘raise and match’ scheme which ...
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Employee Benefits Summit 2009: Raising the retirement age will exacerbate the recession
Raising the retirement age will exacerbate the recession, said Roger Nightingale, global economist, speaking today to leading UK reward professionals at the Employee Benefits Summit 2009 in Monte Carlo.Increasing the retirement age will result in more people aged over 65 competing for jobs and an expanded workforce. This, he explained, ...