All Opinion articles – Page 26
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OpinionMatthew Lawrence: Wellbeing in the new normal
With Covid-19 infection rates doubling every seven to eight days across the UK, the country is on the cusp of a second wave of the virus. Already, we have seen a huge increase in the numbers of people suffering with mental health problems as a result of the pandemic and ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Is remote working leading to employee burnout?
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, much has been written in both the industry and national press on the impact this has had on various aspects of the nation’s mental health and wellbeing. One conversation I have had several times over the past couple of weeks, however, is ...
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OpinionTamsin Nicholds: Protecting low-paid employees on Universal Credit with employee ownership bonuses
The start of 2020 saw press coverage relating to organisations which had seen their good intentions thwarted when they had paid cash bonuses to employees only to see that those employees lost a corresponding amount of their benefits provided through Universal Credit.In practice, paying bonuses often has a negative effect, ...
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OpinionCaroline Harwood: Tax implications of Christmas parties during Covid-19
As we are now well into autumn, and Christmas decorations start making their way into shops, employers may have started to think about their annual Christmas party; but this year, it is different.With Covid-19 (Coronavirus) restrictions likely to be in place until Christmas in some shape or form, employers will ...
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OpinionKeith Richards: Employers must monitor the gender pay gap to tackle the pensions gap
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, women already faced a pension deficit that meant they retired on roughly a fifth of the amount a man had accrued.Data collected by the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Insuring Women’s Futures initiative before Covid-19 showed career breaks and part-time work reduce women’s prospects of getting a promotion, ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Resetting the people agenda
Today (Friday 16 October) marks the final day of the inaugural Employee Benefits Reset online series. Over the past two weeks, this has featured sessions from leading HR and reward professionals discussing how the current landscape has prompted them to reset and reshape their organisation’s approach to people strategy.One thing ...
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OpinionAlastair Kendrick: The effect of Covid-19 on staff travel schemes
We have seen, over a number of years, employers challenged to move towards a greener approach to business. This challenge included the question of whether this could incorporate a change to staff travel.These discussions questioned whether there was the opportunity to avoid a physical journey by taking a conference or ...
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OpinionJeremy Harris: Pension entitlements under the Job Support Scheme
In September 2020, the government announced the replacement to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, replacing it with the Job Support Scheme (JSS). This scheme came with very mixed reactions, particularly businesses wondering what the actual incentive is to pay employees for a third of their work and also contribute to ...
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OpinionJonathan Mansfield: Managing benefits technology in a changing world
UK businesses have shown impressive adaptability during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic; driven by necessity and helped by technology, employers set up millions to work from home at short notice.Coming out of the crisis, an increasing number of businesses will be looking to maximise flexibility in the range of benefits offered ...
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OpinionLouise Aston: Employers must commit to long-term mental health support
If, at the start of 2020, I had been asked whether organisations had the insights, structures and ability to support their workforce through upheavals like those we have been over the last eight months, I would have had had my doubts. But everything I have seen since Covid-19 has proved ...
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OpinionKathryn Barnes: Returning to work on good terms
Many employees are living through profound and possibly permanent changes in workplace culture, processes and conditions. The situation for traditional office-based work remains difficult to predict. While the office culture many of us know is not disappearing entirely, neither is it likely to return in full to pre-pandemic levels.Employers and ...
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OpinionJon Salmon: Why employers should be taking more responsibility for employees' mental health
You will struggle to find anyone whose mental health has not been impacted by the Covid-1 pandemic. My anxiety went through the roof as I could see work disappearing as clients were potentially delaying or cancelling projects at the start of the year.High-profile campaigns like Time To Change and Heads ...
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OpinionLouise Lawrence: Mental health support services and the new normal
The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, with employers being particularly concerned about the impact of working from home on their employees’ health. In our Shifting attitudes to flexible working - six months on research published in August 2020, which surveyed 500 ...
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OpinionHelen Smith: How to develop a culture of positive mental wellbeing in the workplace
More than 11 million UK working adults have taken time off work for poor mental wellbeing, costing businesses an estimated 40 million working days each year, according to research The elephant that never left the room, published by not-for-profit healthcare provider Benenden Health in September 2020.Yet only 38% of them ...
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OpinionAmanda Glover and Helen Beech: What Arcadia’s u-turn and apology means for business
Although Arcadia's u-turn will be welcomed by its employees facing redundancy, Arcadia would have been well within its legal rights to pay certain employees a reduced rate of notice pay. Emergency legislation was rushed into force on 31 July 2020 when the government became aware of several employers relying on ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Festive celebrations can recognise employees for their hard work and value
Among those employers that responded to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD’s) 2018 Reward management survey, published in November 2018, 64% organised a Christmas office party or lunch for some or all staff, something that tends to be more widespread in the private sectors, and among small and ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Adjusting to a new wave of home working
Prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcement earlier this week declaring that employees should return to working from home if they are able to do so represented a sharp u-turn from his previous focus on returning staff to offices around the UK. With some organisations in the process of returning staff to ...
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OpinionHannah Disselbeck: The Equal Pay Act 50 years on
First one of those annoying lawyerly clarifications, while the Equal Pay Act received Royal Assent in 1970, it did not in fact come into force until December 1975. Equal pay has, therefore, only been provided for under domestic legislation for 45 years, rather than 50. It is, therefore, perhaps more ...
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OpinionEsther Langdon: Will support for working carers change after the pandemic?
?As the government and the workforce struggle with decisions about venturing a return to work, it is not contested that one of the legacies of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) will be more widespread working from home. Reactions from employers range from a grudging acceptance to a wish to embrace the moment, building ...
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OpinionFrancoise Woolley: Helping staff build resilience during challenging times
The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on our mental health. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Coronavirus and depression in adults, Great Britain: June 2020, published in August 2020, revealed that 19.2% of adults in Great Britain are likely to be experiencing some form of depression; the ...