All articles by Debi O'Donovan – Page 25
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Employee Advisory Resource and PocketSmith launch budgeting tool
Employee Advisory Resource (EAR), an employee assistance programme (EAP) provider has entered into an exclusive partnership with PocketSmith, a budgeting software company, to provide an online personal finance management tool to help employees with budgeting and financial planning.The new online tool is an interactive enhancement to EAR's suite of debt ...
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Bright Horizons acquires Teddies Nurseries from Bupa
Bright Horizons, provider of employer-sponsored childcare and early education, back-up care, and work-life solutions, has acquired Teddies Nurseries from Bupa.This creates the largest network of nurseries in the UK.The Bright Horizons network, now including Teddies Nurseries, comprises 147 nurseries in the UK and Ireland, which not only provides care to ...
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Theatre tokens celebrates 25th anniversary
Theatre Tokens, the theatre vouchers that can be exchanged for theatre tickets at over 230 theatres nationwide, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.Theatre vouchers when used in motivation, recognition and incentive schemes have proven extremely popular with employers that want to add a cultural and entertainment experience to the benefits and ...
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Hymans Robertson hires Barry Mack as head of governance and plan management.
Hymans Robertson, the independent benefits and investment consultancy, has hired Barry Mack to the new position of head of governance and plan management.Mack will be responsible for developing and promoting the firm’s governance and plan management services, including new business generation and firm-wide thought leadership.Mack joins Hymans Robertson from Mercer, ...
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Asda launches online gift card management
Asda has launched an online management system that enables plastic gift cards to be used by employers as easily as paper gift vouchers.The gift card management system (GCMS), developed by Jordan Media for Asda Business Rewards, offers increased flexibility for Asda gift cards in the incentive, reward and employee benefits ...
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Fifth of pension plans going into PPF are from the Midlands
Nearly 20% of schemes that have entered into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) are failed Midlands based companies.This is an over representation compared to the rest of the nation and this figure is likely to rise due to the looming closures of car and manufacturing production plants, according to Aon ...
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Private medical insurance coverage rises despite recession
Lastest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that the number of people covered by private medical insurance (PMI) continued to rise in 2008 despite the UK economy going into recession.†In 2008, a total of 6,224,000 people were covered by either personal or corporate PMI, with a further ...
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Budget 2009: Sharesave changes to cut administrator costs
The slashing of the time period in which interest rate changes take effect on sharesave schemes will cut the high costs that were hitting administrators over the past year.The changes, which will come into effect on 29 April 2009 as part of the Finance Bill 2009, mean that the minimum ...
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Budget 2009: HMRC to specify sharesave bonus rates
Legislation, to be introduced in the Finance Bill 2009, will transfer the process of specifying bonus rates and early leaver rates on sharesave plans and of authorising savings providers from HM Treasury to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).When bonus interest rates change, the legislation will allow HMRC to specify that ...
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Budget 2009: Redundancy payments increase to £380 a week
The Chancellor announced a change to the weekly Statutory Redundancy Rate. The weekly amount will increase from £350 to £380 with effect from 1 October 2009.
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Employee Benefits Awards finalists announced
Employee Benefits Awards finalists announcedThe shortlist for the Employee Benefits Awards 2009 has been announced. Leading employers such as Boots, Tesco, Fujitsu and Centrica have made the list of finalists.The ultimate winners will be announced at a glittering lunchtime ceremony on 26 June 2009 in London.The Employee Benefits Awards aims ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Is the rise of pensions in flexible benefits all that is seems?
A striking finding of the Employee Benefits/Towers Perrin Flexible Benefits Research 2009 is the number of employers considering introducing pensions into a flexible benefits scheme. Almost a quarter (24%) of our respondents said they were thinking along these lines.So why this sudden surge? I believe there are four key drivers: ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Motivation is key in a crisis and words can be the best reward
By now there are few people in the UK who have not, in some way, been affected by redundancies. For the majority, it is a case of having watched colleagues leave while those left have to pick up the pieces and carry on, often still feeling jittery about their own ...
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Unum publishes recession planning guides
Group risk provider Unum has published two guides to help intermediaries advise employers on their group risk benefits during the recession.The first guide provides details of Unum’s provisions and requirements when employers are restructuring and/or making redundancies.The other guide outlines the arrangements that can be made to accommodate temporary periods ...
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Wheelies Direct Cycle Solutions announces 250% rise in turnover
Wheelies Direct Cycle Solutions, a leading UK operator of cycle-to-work schemes, has announced a turnover of £2.8 million. This is a 250% rise over the course of less than a year. Turnover is expected to grow to over £4.2 million in 2009.More than 200 employers have signed up for cycle-to-work ...
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Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Is it a bad idea to let staff invest to much of their money in their own employer?
A few weeks ago a press release crossed my desk that made me splutter into my morning coffee. It was from the not-for-profit body ifs ProShare that promotes employee share schemes, and it was calling for an increase to the current limit of £250 a month that employees are allowed ...
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Aviva improves reward provision
Insurance group Aviva has launched a benefits website, online total rewards statements and a recognition scheme ahead of the firm's rebranding in June. The firm will also move to a flexible benefits scheme to coincide with the rebrand.
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It is legal to retire staff at 65
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the UK's compulsory retirement age of 65 is not in breach of EU legislation.The case against the legislation had been made by charity Age Concern through its 'Heyday' campaign. The ECJ ruled that employers can continue to retire staff at 65 ...
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GBP2bn expenses are wrongly cleared
Businesses in the UK are reportedly losing an estimated £2 billion due to wrongly-approved employee expense payments, according to research from GlobalExpense. The Employee Expenses Benchmark Report 2009 examined 4.8 million expenses claims from more than 150,000 UK-based employees, and contradicts a recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel ...
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Firms still not ready for pension reforms
Nearly a third of FTSE100 companies are not prepared for pension reforms due in 2012, a survey by Watson Wyatt claims.The actuary's research, 2009 FTSE100 Defined Contribution Pension Survey, showed that of those that have made preparations, 12% said they would have to increase employer costs, and 12% said they ...