All articles by Nicola Sullivan – Page 37
-
Article
Robots to fill in for absent staff
A 5ft robot that can fill in for an absent worker in the office sounds like the ultimate employee benefit for staff wishing to be elsewhere.The QB robot, which has been developed by US firm Antybots and is due to go on sale this autumn, can be operated by an ...
-
Article
Tesco staff to split £105 million share bonus pot
More than 216,000 Tesco staff, from checkout operators to drivers and managers will share a £105 million share bonus pot.The retailer announced the share awards after reporting profits of £3.5 billion for the last year.In addition, the 75,500 employees who have held shares in Tesco's 'Shares in success' scheme since ...
-
Article
Friends Provident launches absence service for group risk customers
Friends Provident has launched a new group risk product that will offer help and advice for both employers and employees on sickness absence.The support package - free to all new and existing group income protection policyholders - is aimed at helping organisations reduce absence in the workplace. With the average ...
-
Article
Salaries offered to new joiners fall
While employer demand for new UK workers rose by 1% in May, the salaries on offer for new jobs dropped by 3% compared to the previous month. According to the Reed Job Index, which is based on data from reed.co.uk and tracks the number of new job opportunities on offer, ...
-
Article
Conservative/Liberal Democrat government outline measures affecting shares and pensions
The Conservative/Liberal Democrat government's The coalition: our programme for government, published last month, outlined a number of measures that will affect employee benefits, particularly pension and share schemes.One initiative is to tax non-business capital gains at rates similar, or close to, those applied to income. The tax will apply only ...
-
Article
AA rebrands its flexible benefits scheme
The rebranding follows a year in which the AA imposed a pay freeze for managers and a salary increase, based on a 1% pay deal, for the rest of its staff. The flex plan, called Club FlexSa, is provided by Benefex and features three themes under which benefits are grouped: ...
-
Article
FSA confirms commission ban on group personal pensions
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has confirmed commission on all new group personal pensions (GPP) will be banned under the Retail Distribution Review from 2013.The regulator's policy document Delivering the retail distribution review - Corporate pensions: feedback to CP09/31 and final rules has stated commission will be allowed to continue ...
-
Article
Employee Benefits Health and Wellbeing Conference 2010: Cost of private medical insurance (PMI) under scrutiny
The increasing cost of offering private medical insurance (PMI) came under scrutiny during a panel debate at Employee Benefits' Health and Wellbeing Conference 2010 last month.Mike Izzard, former chairman of the Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (Amii), blamed rising premiums on the high costs charged by private hospital chains, and ...
-
Article
Budget 2010: Measures to be retained from former government
In today's emergency budget Chancellor George Osborne confirmed a number of measures introduced by the previous government would be retained.Theses measures are:Tax and national insuranceAs previously announced in 2011-12, the national insurance contribution (NIC) primary threshold will increase and NICs rates will be increased by 1% (2009 pre-Budget report). In ...
-
Article
KFC introduces total reward statements
KFC UK is launching total reward statements in a bid to improve benefits communication for staff.The statements, which will be provided in-house, will be sent out to staff in July to outline the value of their benefits, including pension, private medical insurance and employee discount programmes.It is hoped the statements ...
-
Article
BSkyB's retail discount scheme sees take-up rise
BSkyB’s online retail discount scheme has been accessed by 49% of employees who have spent more than £1 million on the platform since it was launched six months ago.The scheme, which is called ‘Sky Benefits Extra’ and is provided by Asperity Employee Benefits, has been accessed by 8,500 staff since ...
-
Article
BHP Billiton increases take-up of global share plan
Mining firm BHP Billiton has seen 5,000 more staff buying shares through this year's global all-employee unapproved share scheme than when its last global plan was launched in 2007.Most of the 11,000 employees who took part in the 2007 plan opted to hold on to their shares when the scheme ...
-
Article
Asda increases sharesave scheme take-up
Asda has increased the take-up of its sharesave scheme after changing providers and adopting a new approach to communicating the perk to staff.The retailer saw 26,000 of its 175,000-strong workforce take up sharesave, compared to 25,000 the previous year after it promoted the scheme using employee case studies.Film footage of ...
-
Article
Healthcare Research 2010: Employee healthcare costs and calculating return on investment
Employers are keen to get value for money from healthcare benefits, but more than one-third do not know how much they spend on these perks, says Nicola SullivanCost is still a top priority for employers when it comes to healthcare benefits and most organisations opt to use an intermediary or ...
-
Article
Healthcare Research 2010: Strategies to deal with employee stress
The economic climate has receded as a reason for employers to implement a stress-management strategy and most still do not have one in place, says Nicola SullivanDespite the pressures piled on staff last year, there has not been a significant rise in the proportion of employers actively tackling stress. More ...
-
Article
Healthcare Research 2010: Attitudes to employee health and wellbeing
A growing number of employers feel they have a role to play in promoting employee wellness, and there are good business reasons for doing so, says Nicola SullivanThe introduction of Dame Carol Black's system of fit notes and fit-for-work services is likely to shake up or prompt a review of ...
-
Article
Landscaping firm grows veggies for employees
In these tough economic times the growth of reward and benefits packages is not something witnessed by many employees.This is not the case for staff at landscaping US firm Lawnman, whose benefits literally sprout out from the ground.Burnie Lenau a landscaping executive at the firm has created a 1,000-square-foot garden ...
-
Article
BT faces strike over pay
BT is on the brink of the first national strike staged by workers since 1987 after discontent over this year's pay deal.Almost 60,000 BT staff, represented by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), have voted unanimously to hold a strike ballot after being offered a 2% pay rise.The offer, which CWU ...
-
Article
Mears Group appoints Quantum Advisory for pension services
Mears Group has appointed Quantum Advisory to provide administration, actuarial and investment services for its myriad pension arrangements.The social housing repairs and maintenance firm entered into the deal as part of efforts to make cost savings in the uncertain economic climate.Quantum Advisory was appointed in 2009 to provide services to ...
-
Article
De La Rue to close final salary pension scheme
Governmental banknote printer De La Rue is to close its final salary pension scheme to future accrual and instead offer employees access to a defined contribution scheme.The final salary scheme will be closed to future accrual for all employees from 1 April 2013 but pension benefits up until this date ...