All articles by Kate Donovan – Page 3
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Article
Employers call on Brown for tax break on care vouchers
Employers including BT, IBM, John Lewis and KPMG have called on the government to provide a tax break on care vouchers in order to help staff balance their work and caring responsibilities.Sally David, BT's carers champion and CEO of BT Wholesale, has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor ...
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Queen's speech includes Pensions Bill and carers' rights
The Queen's Speech at this year's State Opening of Parliament set out plans for the Pensions Bill and enhanced rights for carers.The Pensions Bill includes plans for the implementation of personal accounts into which individuals will be automatically enrolled with the right to opt out, and is due to come ...
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Article
Watson Wyatt appoints new head of UK healthcare and risk consulting
Watson Wyatt has appointed Jamie Winter as practice leader of UK healthcare and risk consulting.Winter, who will lead a team of 35 associates based in London and Manchester, will take over from David Cross who has moved to a wider management role within Watson Wyatt's UK benefits practice.Winter has more ...
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Workplace stress still a problem
Workplace stress is still prevalent with 24% of full-time workers saying that they are generally stressed at work.A further 23% say they never take a break during the week, while 20% believe they work too many extra hours, according to Legal & General's Health uncovered research. The survey also found ...
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Case Studies
Employer profile: Punch Taverns
Acquisitive pub chain Punch Taverns has worked hard to integrate differing benefits offerings, says Kate DonovanPunch Taverns has come a long way in a relatively short space of time, expanding through an almost continuous series of acquisitions since it was established in 1997 with 1,399 pubs bought from Bass. In ...
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Article
Rok to communicate flex using DVDs and podcasts
Rok is launching online and paper-based total reward statements as well as planning to use DVDs and podcasts to help communicate a new flexible benefits plan to staff.Approximately 3,500 employees at the construction company will be given access to either online or paper-based total reward statements from December in the ...
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Article
Lack of clarity on health screening forces tax review
Healthcare providers have welcomed HM Revenue & Customs' (HMRC) decision to hold off enforcing new tax rules on health screening due to the lack of clarity over their actual impact.Their comments follow an exclusive online story broken last month by Employee Benefits that HMRC has backtracked over its move to ...
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Prizes for better performance at Punch Taverns
Punch Taverns is launching a new employee recognition scheme which rewards staff for enhanced performance, excellent customer service, and practising company values.The scheme allows area managers to reward employees for doing something over and above the requirements of their day job with four different tiers of prizes. The awards include ...
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Article
Danone pushes green agenda
Danone Dairies is giving employees the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint by funding the planting of trees in the UK through the Woodland Trust.The new benefit is part of the company's flexible benefits scheme and allows employees to calculate their personal carbon footprint and then sacrifice some of their ...
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National Express improves parental policies
National Express has improved its parental policies in a bid to offer more than the statutory level of leave to its employees.Male staff can now take two weeks paternity leave on full pay, and adopting parents can take a maximum of 52 weeks leave with statutory adoption pay.The transport company ...
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Fidelity National Information Services consolidates pensions into new GPP
Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) is to consolidate its three existing pension schemes into a new group personal pension (GPP) as part of its strategy to align benefits following its acquisition of credit card processing firm Certegy.The acquisition prompted FIS to consolidate its own stakeholder pension and small GPP, and ...
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Article
Treasury in talks to soften blow of CGT changes
HM Treasury's spate of discussions about proposals to soften the impact of the government's Capital Gains Tax (CGT) changes will continue in the first week of November 2007 when Ifs Proshare will meet with officials to propose an exemption for employees in sharesave or save-as-you-earn (SAYE) schemes.The not-for-profit organisation plans ...
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Article
Attracting key staff to food and grocery industry is harder than ever
Attracting talent in the food and grocery industry is harder than ever before, with employees placing career progression above pay and perks when applying for jobs or deciding whether to move on.Findings of a delegate poll at the IDG Convention (a registered charity which provides information, research and best practice ...
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Hackney Council launches self-service HR system
Hackney Council has added a self-service element to its HR system so that employees can access HR information and services that include online payslips and expenses.Following a pilot, council employees are able to use an email address to access their own details and receive their payslips electronically. This offering is ...
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Article
MyRuby gives staff Nintendo DS gaming access
MyRuby, a personalised call-handling company, has given its employees use of Nintendo DS handheld gaming devises to exercise their minds when they are not answering calls.The company, set up at the beginning of 2007, employs ‘virtual’ personal assistants to take and manage business peoples’ phone calls when they are unable ...
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Article
Directors urged to do more on health and safety
Businesses could do more to prevent thousands of accidents and hundreds of avoidable deaths a year.The Bringing justice to the boardroom report, commissioned by the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) and written by the Centre for Corporate Accountability, highlights a failure of voluntary approaches to reduce injuries ...
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Chief executives' earnings hit record highs
The average total earnings of FTSE 100 chief executives have doubled over the last five years to a new record of £3.2m.The FTSE mid-250 chief executives' average total earnings have also risen by more than 90% since 2001/02 to £1.4m, according to Incomes Data Services' (IDS) Directors' pay report 2007 ...
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Government proposes to ease employers' pensions burden
The government has proposed to cut the cap on the adjustment of deferred pension schemes for inflation from 5% to 2.5%.Its response to the findings of the Deregulatory Review, an independent review of pensions regulation, which is designed to ease the burden of regulations on employers that provide pension schemes, ...
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Article
BT launches global cancer campaign for staff
BT has launched a global campaign to help its employees make lifestyle changes that are aimed at preventing cancer.The company aims to target its 104,000 current employees across the globe and 120,000 BT pensioners with its six-week long Work Fit: Cancer and You campaign. The campaign will include interactive displays, ...
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Article
Benefits could help tackle winter blues
Employers could use benefits to help counter employee blues following a wet summer and the approaching winter.As the the wettest since 1914, this summer may increase the likelihood of employees suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. To try to prevent an ensuing drop in productivity, Croner is urging employers to consider ...