All articles by LouronPratt – Page 23
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ArticleThe top 10 most read stories: 30 July – 5 August 2020
The most-read stories on Employee Benefits from 30 July - 5 August 2020 were... Furloughed employees to receive full pay if made redundantAmazon rewards front-line employees with appreciation bonusCity Sprint couriers win worker status and holiday pay benefitsBarclays, Sky and Royal Mail recognised as top employers for womenGovernment publishes further ...
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ArticleChick-fil-A celebrates employee's 90th birthday with a drive-through party
Something for the weekend: US fast-food chain Chick-fil-A celebrated the 90th birthday of one of its most-loved and longest-serving employees in style.The Atlanta branch of the organisation arranged for the staff member, named colloquially as 'Ms Ann', to receive a surprise birthday bash, and she was well and truly tickled ...
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ArticleHomerton Hospital workers to receive London living wage and full sick pay
200 outsourced cleaners, porters and security staff at Homerton University Hospital Trust will be paid the London living wage, as well as receiving full NHS sick pay.The new five-year contract, which was negotiated between Unison and GMB Union, the employees' representatives, and ISS, the private contractor which employs the staff, ...
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ArticleUniversity College Hospital NHS Trust reports mean gender pay gap of 16%
University College London Hospital NHS Trust has reported a mean gender pay gap of 16% for average hourly pay as at April 2019.The organisation, which currently has over 9,300 employees, reported its gender pay gap data in line with the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations.The reporting regulations require organisations ...
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ArticleUber and Metro Bank extend remote working policies to 2021
Ridesharing business Uber and retail banking organisation Metro Bank are extending their home working policies to 2021.Uber plans to open its local offices in the US over the coming months, however, US-based employees can still take up the option of continuing to work from home until at least 31 June ...
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AnalysisHow can employers ensure pensions are the right savings vehicle in the current climate?
Need to know:The Covid-19 outbreak has opened up many financial short-term issues for employees.Employees may be unaware that they can change their contribution levels to their workplace pension scheme.Financial education is crucial to ensure that all employees understand where their pension contributions are going, and how to alter levels if ...
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OpinionJeremy Harris: Pensions remain an attractive form of investment
Covid-19 (Coronavirus) and lockdown have threatened livelihoods across all age groups. Constraints on current income may lead workers to defer financial planning decisions.They may be disinclined to invest following recent falls in markets. This reluctance may be most marked with pensions, which generally cannot be accessed until age 55.However, except ...
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Case StudiesZurich UK supports employees' financial wellbeing with education platforms
Insurer Zurich UK uses a number of financial education measures to support its 4,500 employees, and has promoted their use during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic to help employees better understand their financial situations and options available to them.Zurich began working with Lifeworks in October 2019 in order to give employees ...
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ArticleGovernment extends pensions tax allowance deadline for NHS staff to March 2021
The government is giving NHS employees an extension on their pension scheme allowance liabilities for tax bills relating to 2018/19.NHS employees will now have until March 2021 to submit to the voluntary NHS pension scheme, an additional five months on top of the original three month extension. In May 2020, ...
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ArticleEmployee Benefits Live 2020 moves to October 2021
Employee Benefits Live 2020, which was due to take place on 6-7 October 2020, has been postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.The event, in its 22nd year, will now take place Tuesday 12 October and Wednesday 13 October 2021 at ExCeL London.The difficult decision was based on ...
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ArticleOutsourced cleaners at Ford to receive 3% pay rise
150 contracted workers at Ford Dagenham and Ford Dunton Technical Centre are set to receive a 3% pay rise.The deal, negotiated by the cleaners' representative Unite the Union and Hamton Environmental cleaning contractors, the organisation which supplies the workers to Ford, could see their pay increase by up to £500 ...
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OpinionRosalind Connor: Is the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Act 2020 a problem for pensions?
The Corporate Governance and Insolvency Act 2020 received Royal Assent at the end of June, having been pushed through Parliament in record time. There had been much concern in the pensions world that this would damage the position of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes run by employers facing uncertainty, or ...
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ArticleFrench care workers to receive €1,000 Covid-19 bonus
The French government is to pay care workers a €1,000 (£901) bonus to recognise their efforts during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.The bonus, which will be funded by the French government and totals €160 (£144) million euros, will support care working professionals who have been working throughout the pandemic. The government ...
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ArticleAustralian government introduces $1,500 sick pay for Victorian staff
Employees working in the state of Victoria, Australia will receive a $1,500 (£821) payment if they have to self-isolate for 14 days due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.This introduction of enhanced sick pay is due to the spike of Coronavirus cases specifically relating to the region of Victoria. Employees who ...
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ArticleCity Sprint couriers to win worker status and holiday pay benefits
Courier service City Sprint is set to change the status of workers' contracts, meaning that the business could have to pay out unpaid holiday claims following an employment tribunal case.The case, that was first introduced into court by the workers' representatives, Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) in 2017, ...
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Article72% of employees do not have access to financial education
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of employees do not have access to any form of financial education benefits, according to research by Aegon UK.The study of 2,000 employees, surveyed just before the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic in December 2019, found that 70% of employees would find general information about ways to improve their ...
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ArticleWeston Town Council to pay employees the real living wage
Weston Town Council is to pay all of its employees the minimum real living wage, in line with the Living Wage Foundation guidelines.This means that every employee aged over 18 will be paid a minimum of £9.30 an hour, estimating to cost the council £3,400 a year.The council is now ...
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ArticleMaham Azam: What is the benefit to employers of voluntarily submitting a gender pay report?
The question of pay has long been a hot topic and remains to be a taboo in the workplace. It is difficult to find an industry that has honest and candid discussions about pay discrepancies, and the engineering profession is no exception. Is it time for real change? Let us ...
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ArticleKate Ledwidge: What is the benefit to employers of voluntarily submitting a gender pay report?
In March 2020, the government announced its decision to suspend the requirement for businesses to publish their gender pay gap figures. Most people saw this as a sensible step to reduce the burden on HR teams around the country at a time of high stress in the midst of a ...