All articles by Kate Donovan – Page 5
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Article
CIPD claims new equal pay law 'will stop progress'
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has criticised the government's proposals for a Single Equality Bill, for failing to back the use of hypothetical comparators for equal pay claims.Comparisons are made in equal pay cases where the claimant works in a mixed sex environment, by identifying a person ...
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Analysis
How to raise your profile as a benefits professional
Kate Donovan looks how benefits professionals can raise their profile both internally and within the wider HR communityCalculating a return on investment in terms of people policy and benefits is notoriously difficult, so when a key concern of the board is the organisation’s bottom line, it is often a time ...
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Article
Ship crew desire better communication facilities and larger living quarters
Larger living quarters, improved food and facilities onboard and better communications facilities to maintain contact with friends and family are the most sought after benefits by employees working on board cruise ships.The Crew Morale and Retention Study by Navitas Telecom in association with WorkonCruiseShips.com, also revealed a high turnover of ...
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Article
Watson Wyatt Worldwide appoints Mele to internal HR team
Steve Mele has joined Watson Wyatt Worldwide as its chief human resources officer.Mele will take on responsibility for all human resources initiatives for the global consulting firm's 7,000 employees worldwide.Mele joins Watson Wyatt from Mercer where he was chief people and technology officer and has nearly 30 years' experience managing ...
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Article
RSPA launches standards for pensions administrators
Raising Standards of Pensions Administration (RSPA) has launched its General Statement of Administration Standards to guide people responsible for administering a scheme.The document advises trustees and administrators on how they should work together to ensure the best possible service is provided to members.There are six guiding principles detailed and a ...
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Article
RAC launches recognition scheme for patrolmen
RAC has launched an employee recognition scheme to motivate its patrolmen to perform well.The motoring organisation plans to award eligible employees with points on a weekly basis according to how they perform. These points can be redeemed against a range of rewards and products, including RAC-branded merchandise, via access to ...
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Article
Unisys consults over future of final salary pension
Unisys UK is in consultation with its UK Works Council after proposing to close its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to future accruals from midnight 30 November 2007.Employees at the IT services provider have been notified and received relevant information about the proposals.A spokesman said: "The proposed changes to the ...
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Article
Sports Council for Wales offers staff health checks
The Sports Council for Wales is offering its employees funded health checks.Following feedback from an employee survey, the employer arranged for doctors and nurses from a local surgery to visit its Cardiff site to carry out cholesterol, diabetes, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure checks. It now plans to ...
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Article
Royal Mail denies decision to close final salary pension
The Royal Mail has denied that it has decided to close its final salary pension scheme.In response to press speculation that the decision to close the scheme to all employees has been made, a Royal Mail spokesman, said: "No decisions have yet been taken as we've been clear that we ...
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Article
Mercer signs agreement to use Vebnet's flex technology
Mercer has entered a 10-year licence agreement to use Vebnet's technology as the core application of its UK-based flexible benefits services.Through the agreement, Mercer can potentially extend the use of Vebnet's technology into other European markets and to move existing clients onto the new platform.Alan Whalley, UK market leader at ...
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Article
Prudential and Discovery launch new life insurance and protection business
Prudential UK is teaming up with South African insurer, Discovery, to launch PruProtect, a new protection product which will come under the holding company, PruProtection.The new venture includes a range of protection plans that cover life insurance, critical illness, income protection and disability insurance. The plans will initially be available ...
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Article
AA and Saga staff to be granted shares in parent company
Saga and AA staff will all be given shares in the parent company of the combined businesses following their merger.All 11,000 employees will be awarded equity in parent company Acromas Holdings, created from the merger of Saga, an insurance and holiday company for those aged over 50, and motoring organisation ...
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Article
Pension scheme buyout market yet to take off
The pensions buyout market for defined benefit (DB) schemes remains stagnant, with no expansion taking place in the last six months.Aon Consulting's first Quarterly buyout market survey, which analyses the volume of cases being placed and the number of quotes being requested, found that over the last six months, there ...
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Article
RBS offers staff tax-free travel on Arriva buses
The Royal Banks of Scotland (RBS) is offering its employees tax-free local bus travel tickets for use on Arriva buses.Employees can opt, via the bank’s flexible benefits scheme, to pay for annual Arriva bus tickets on a monthly salary sacrifice basis. Employees taking up the perk, pay for the tickets ...
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Article
Specsavers launches new safety eyewear range
Specsavers has launched a new range of safety eyewear to offer greater functionality and choice.The range includes nine new frames as well as two existing bestsellers and each frame is available in various frame sizes and colours. The selection also offers styles designed specifically for women.Andrew Adams, corporate account manager ...
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Article
Specialising can be beneficial for HR career development
Specialising in reward can be beneficial to HR career development.Other increasingly important areas of specialism include employee relations and international experience.In the session on Your brilliant career: Managing your future, at the CIPD conference on Wednesday, Samantha Allen, managing director at Boydon UK Executive Search, said: “Reward is growing where ...
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Article
Fun benefits engage First Direct staff
First Direct has found that a fun working environment engages staff more effectively than than pay and traditional benefits.Employee surveys revealed that the bank’s workforce placed core values, brand identity and a sense of strong family bonds as factors which matter most to them at work, said Jane Hanson, head ...
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Article
Managers should be accountable for low staff engagement
Line managers should be held accountable for disappointing engagement levels among their staff and should even be denied pay rises.This is according to Martyn Phillips, HR director at B&Q, speaking on Wednesday on the topic of Getting Engaged at the CIPD conference in Harrogate. B&Q uses an HR success model ...
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Article
Use others' experience to build a business case
Kate Donovan, reporter, Employee Benefits There’s a reason why siestas make some business sense. A busy morning followed by a full stomach combined with a comfortable seat and warm environment can have a significant lulling effect during the post-lunch slot at an HR conference.However, benefits is surely a subject that ...
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Article
Tories unveil proposals on equal pay for men and women
Conservative shadow minister for women, Theresa May, has unveiled new proposals on how to tackle the pay gap between men and women.Set out in the document Fair Play on Women's Pay: A six point plan to overcome the gender pay gap, the proposals include: pay audits for firms that are ...