All articles by Jennifer Paterson – Page 181
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Article
Research: Employers' budget pressures continue
Although nearly half (43%) of reward professionals predict a period of growth in 2010 and are upbeat about their organisation's future (48%), a large majority (93%) still feel pressure to minimise costs and improve return on investment.Despite this, 70% do not know how much they spend on benefits, according to ...
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Analysis
Charitable benefits are a good motivator
Charitable perks can do wonders for employee engagement and will enhance an employer’s image as a caring organisation, says Jennifer PatersonApart from their main functions of attracting, engaging and retaining staff, benefits can also be used to support an organisation’s wider strategies, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Here, staff ...
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Article
Equity Insurance adds salary sacrifice car parking to flex
Equity Insurance Group has achieved 85% take-up for its salary sacrifice car parking scheme in its first month.The scheme was launched after the firm's remuneration specialist, Ricky D'Ash, noticed staff were paying a significant amount for car parking each month. In locations with no National Car Parks (NCP), such as ...
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Article
Marks and Spencer streamlines share plan system to account for new tax rate
Marks and Spencer has streamlined its employee share plan system to make sure that about 400 staff who are affected by the new 50% income tax rate do not end up paying too much tax.Ann Govier, manager of employee share schemes and senior remuneration at M&S, said: “Some employees would ...
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Article
Lorica Consulting launches service to manage absence
Lorica Consulting has launched a telephone-based occupational health service for employers.The service provides a specialist to manage the practical and financial impact of absence. Two versions are available: a basic review and assessment; and case management for more complex situations. The service, developed in partnership with FirstAssist, also gives advice ...
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Article
Healthcare Research 2010: International healthcare benefits
Private medical insurance is the top benefit offered to expatriate employees, but few employers use multinational pooling arrangements, says Jennifer PatersonJust over one-third of respondents have operations or divisions outside the UK, so many of them will be managing benefits for both expatriates and local staff in various countries.Benefits commonly ...
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Article
Healthcare Research 2010: Package - which employee healthcare benefits are on offer
Wellbeing initiatives such as workstation health audits and EAPs are still the top two core benefits, while perks for dependants prove popular, says Jennifer PatersonThe most commonly-offered core healthcare benefits have changed little over time. In recent years, however, the proportion of employers that provide these as core has increased, ...
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Article
Canada Life adds deferred retirement insurance to group risk products
Canada Life Group Insurance has introduced deferred retirement to both its group life and group income protection insurance, simplifying the requirements for organisations whose employees wish to continue working beyond their expected normal retirement age.The changes come in light of the government’s current review of the default retirement age.Canada Life ...
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Article
Cripps Harries Hall adds flexible benefits scheme
Cripps Harries Hall has launched a new flexible benefits scheme with Heath Lambert Consulting (HLC).The law firm introduced online total reward statements and a voluntary benefits scheme in early 2010. The flexible benefits scheme has been added to allow the 280 employees to tailor their benefits to their individual needs.Jim ...
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Article
Capital Incentives and Motivation launches staff incentive programme
Capital Incentives and Motivation has launched a new reward programme called Compliments Experiences, which offers more than 500 memorable activities as incentive rewards for staff.Recipients receive a reward package and gift card with a pre-loaded financial value which can be redeemed online at the Compliments Experiences website. Then they can ...
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Article
One-fifth of UK workers cannot afford pension deductions
One in five (18%) UK workers say they do not have a pension because they cannot afford to make savings, according to a survey from Aon Consulting.The research is part of the Aon Consulting European Employee Benefits Benchmark, a survey of more than 7,500 workers from 10 of the leading ...
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Article
Three-quarters of defined benefit pension schemes closed to new entrants
More than 75% of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes have been closed to new entrants, according to Capita Hartshead's annual Pension Scheme Administration Survey.This figure is up from 71% in 2009.The survey, which covers 414 UK workplace pension schemes run by 280 organisations, also found half of respondents (51%) are ...
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Article
Panasonic staff rate healthcare trust with 90% approval
More than 90% of Panasonic employees rated its healthcare trust as either excellent or good.Panasonic, which chose to move away from its private medical insurance (PMI) scheme in January 2009 in order to take advantage of a healthcare trust, appointed Healix to cover almost 1,300 staff and dependants across six ...
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Article
Personalised pension communications most effective
Employers should personalise their pensions communications to staff as much as possible according to the 2010 Pensions Communications Project.The research identifies how UK pension schemes can improve their communications and achieve greater engagement with defined contribution (DC) scheme members.The research, which was sponsored by six pension industry firms and the ...
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Article
BT switches share scheme administrators
British Telecom (BT) has switched providers for the administration of its employee share plans including the management of the 100,000 UK and 10,000 international employees in its sharesave and share incentive plans (Sips).The company has moved from Computershare (formerly HBOS Employer Equity Solutions) to Equiniti. The latter has had a ...
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Article
Queen’s Speech outlines plans affecting benefits
The Queen has outlined the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government’s plans to reassess the changes to national insurance contributions (NICs), phase out the default retirement age, review the intended increase in the State pension age, and introduce flexible working for all employees.National Insurance Contribution billThe National Insurance Contribution bill will overturn the ...
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Article
Renishaw appoints new defined benefit pensions administrator
The trustees of the Renishaw pension fund have appointed Barnett Waddingham to administer its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.Barnett Waddingham will provide a full range of pension administration services to the manufacturer of metrology equipment and systems.Carole Ward, partner at Barnett Waddingham, said: “Online access for the pension scheme members ...
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Article
The Pensions Trust chooses ITM to manage data analysis software
The Pensions Trust has appointed Independent Transition Management (ITM) to implement its data analysis software, Daart.Maurice Titley, director at ITM, said; “It is great to see schemes, like The Pensions Trust, demand better data quality for their members as many other schemes struggle daily with issues caused by poor data ...
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Article
Workplace Options introduces new travel cover for employees
Workplace Options has launched new benefits cover for employees travelling outside the country.Its Global Assurance plan will ensure any current work-life or employee support benefits will follow an employee when they travel for work. Employees are covered for up to 30 days, and additional expatriate or extended global coverage services ...
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Article
JLT Benefit Solutions launches iPhone pension modeller application
JLT Benefit Solutions has launched a pensions modeller application for use on the iPhone and iPod Touch.The defined contribution (DC) modeller, which will be available for download on iTunes from 7 June, is a personalised pension modelling tool for organisations that use JLT's BenPal system as its pension and benefits ...