All articles by Kate Donovan – Page 2

  • Article

    First Direct installs online social networking for staff

    3 December 2007

    First Direct plans to add an online social networking facility to its intranet site, to encourage employees to interact and make use of the discounted events and trips that are available.Employees will be able to use a “buddy up” facility on the bank’s intranet to post a personal profile detailing ...

  • Case Studies

    Coda offers Shariah fund in GPP

    3 December 2007

    Coda demonstrates its corporate social responsibility credentials through benefits by matching charity donations from staff and offering them a pension fund that meets their religious needs.It offers staff a Shariah-compliant fund in its group personal pension (GPP) plan. The HSBC Amanah Global Equity Index, Shariah Law Compliant fund does not ...

  • Article

    National Express favours cash reward over pre-pay cards

    3 December 2007

    National Express has axed plans to use costly pre-pay credit cards to reward staff and has instead opted to credit special staff accounts with the equivalent of a cash sum.Managers at the coach firm can reward high-performers with a branded cheque for any sum. Awards of over £500 need to ...

  • Case Studies

    Enviros offers carbon offsetting to staff

    3 December 2007

    As an environmental consultancy, Enviros reflects its values in its benefits package.Via its flexible benefits scheme, for example, employees can offset their carbon emissions. The perk enables staff to calculate how much they would need to contribute to offset their carbon emissions. The cost is then deducted from their flexible ...

  • Article

    Driver Hire funds cash plan to boost wellbeing

    3 December 2007

    Driver Hire, the national transport and logistics recruitment firm, has introduced an employer-funded healthcare cash plan to help its employees look after their health and wellbeing at work.Through the plan, employees can claim money back towards the cost of a range of treatments including those received at the dentist and ...

  • Article

    Speculation over negative feedback for Single Equality Bill

    3 December 2007

    The omission of the Single Equality Bill from last month's Queen's speech has prompted speculation that the legislation has met with negative feedback during consultation on the green paper which included plans to extend employers' responsibility.The Employers' Forum on Disability said it had been led to believe that the Bill ...

  • Article

    Corporate social responsibility delivers business benefits in talent war

    3 December 2007

    Corporate social responsibility goes beyond goodwill to deliver business benefits in the war for talent, says Kate DonovanA good corporate social responsibility (CSR) record is now almost a pre-requisite for long-term business success. In recent years, organisations have come under increasing pressure from stakeholders, customers, employees, regulators and the general ...

  • Article

    Interview with Barry Hoffman: head of HR at Charteris

    3 December 2007

    Barry Hoffman, head of HR at Charteris, believes HR professionals need a wide-reaching knowledge across sectors if they are to become business leadersBarry Hoffman's experience in management and consultancy work has played an integral role in his ability to improve the credibility of the human resources function, making it key ...

  • Article

    No additional benefits under TUPE

    3 December 2007

    The court of Appeal has confirmed that, on a sale of a business, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (Tupe), transfer employees to the new owner with continuity of employment and their existing terms and conditions, but without any additional right to claim benefits that they did ...

  • Article

    Tax reduction for biofuel goes to House of Commons

    1 December 2007

    Government plans to reduce the taxable benefit on green vehicles that run on bioethanol fuel or a mixture of bioethanol fuel and unleaded petrol, have been laid before the House of Commons.A statutory instrument will amend the Income Tax (Car Benefits) (Reduction of Valuation Appropriate Percentage) Regulations 2001, so that ...

  • Article

    Employment Bill tightens up on national minimum wage flouters

    1 December 2007

    The government has published the Employment Bill which aims to introduce tougher penalties for employers who pay less than the minimum wage and to protect agency workers.The Bill proposes to increase the maximum penalty for paying staff less than the national minimum wage or employment agency offences from £5,000 to ...

  • Article

    All British retirement age discrimination cases put on hold

    15 November 2007

    All British retirement age discrimination cases have been put on hold pending the outcome of the European Court of Justice ruling on the Heyday case.Legal action was bought by a campaign group backed by the charity Age Concern, called Heyday, claiming that Britain is breaking European rules by forcing people ...

  • Article

    Emap offloads two DB pension schemes

    14 November 2007

    Emap has decided to sell its two largest defined benefit pension schemes to Paternoster, transferring its assets and liabilities to the insurance company.The buyout deal means that the media company will be able to secure their employees' benefits in full and remove the defined benefit liability from the company balance ...

  • Article

    Acision adds carbon offsetting to flexible benefits scheme

    13 November 2007

    Acision has added carbon offsetting to its flexible benefits scheme.The options allows employees to calculate the size of their carbon footprint based on the amount of greenhouse gases he or she produces. Another calculation then works out the number of trees needed to offset the emissions and highlights areas where ...

  • Article

    Accor Sevices lets staff volunteer to clean up Thames in work time

    13 November 2007

    Accor Services has enabled staff to take time out of their working day to volunteer to help remove rubbish from the banks of the River Thames as part of the organisation's bid to encourage staff and suppliers to be more environmentally aware.A team of 22 employees this week took to ...

  • Article

    Towry Law appoints two new senior benefits consultants

    12 November 2007

    Towry Law has appointed two senior consultants to its employee benefits division.John Sansone, who joins as practice manager, has more than 27 years' experience working in the employee benefits industry. He was most recently, head of a consulting team at KPMG's pension practice in the North of England, and previously ...

  • Article

    GPs failing to help staff with mental health issues back to work

    12 November 2007

    Employers believe doctors are not doing enough to help people with mental health problems return to work.The latest quarterly Labour market outlook report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD/KPMG found GPs are typically rated negatively by employers for the level of support they provide in helping people ...

  • Article

    Measure to limit impact of means testing on pensions could boost saving

    12 November 2007

    Disregarding a modest proportion of private pensions income could help to reduce the resistance to saving that can be caused by means-tested benefits.The Increasing the value of saving in Personal Accounts: rewarding modest amounts of pension saving, study from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) and sponsored by B&CE Benefit Schemes ...

  • Article

    Women directors still being paid less than male counterparts

    8 November 2007

    The gender pay gap for directors has increased from 19% last year to 22% and in some sectors is as high as 26%.In an analysis of 3,945 jobs from around 1,200 organisations, the Institute of Directors (IoD) annual Directors rewards survey by Croner Reward found that the biggest gaps appeared ...

  • Article

    United Biscuits appoints new group HR director

    8 November 2007

    United Biscuits has appointed Andrew Newall as its new group HR director.Newall joins the European manufacturer of biscuits and snacks from Beam Global Spirits & Wine, a division of Fortune Brands where he most recently worked as vice president of human resources international.Prior to that, Newall was at Allied Domecq ...