All Opinion articles – Page 31
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OpinionLovewell's logic: How are employees coping during lockdown?
How are your employees coping with life under lockdown? While the government’s extension of lockdown and social distancing measures was not unexpected, it may have evoked mixed emotions for some. While most will undoubtedly understand and appreciate the steps that are being taken to minimise the impact of Covid-19, many ...
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OpinionCarol Clarke: SDL stays in touch virtually with global workforce to support their wellbeing
SDL has over 4,500 employees across 39 countries and 60 offices around the world. Covid-19 (Coronavirus) has changed the way we work and collaborate with our colleagues and, even though we have supported agile working for many years, it is still a huge change for our global teams.One of our ...
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OpinionApril Horsman and Anne Sammon: Employers are key in supporting mental wellbeing
With a significant proportion of the UK economy now working from home due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, both organisations and the people within them are facing an unprecedented challenge in adapting to a new way of working. During these uncertain times, employers have a responsibility to ensure their workforce ...
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OpinionShabnam Ramzan: Snowflake supports the overall wellbeing of staff during a crisis
At Snowflake, our people are our greatest asset and we want to make sure that Snowflake is a great and safe place to work. One way that we can do this is by offering a comprehensive range of employee benefits that are designed to help look after health, wellbeing and ...
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OpinionDavid Jones: Managing employees during Covid-19
We are in unprecedented times, unchartered waters for employers. With some businesses focused on simply keeping themselves afloat during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, it is important not to lose sight of the biggest asset to any business, its employees. How businesses manage their employees today is going to have a ...
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OpinionRebecca Peters: Engagement lessons that organisations can learn from social media
Given the prevalence of social media in most people’s lives, it should be one of the most accessible ways for employees to exercise their voice. However, our research tells us that business social media is less commonly used to solicit voice than one-to-ones, staff surveys and team meetings.Organisations may be ...
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OpinionTim Middleton: Pensions support for employers and staff is essential during the Covid-19 crisis
The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) crisis has had the most serious peacetime impact on society for over a century. With most of the population subject to lockdown, employers have scaled down their activities or suspended them altogether. This has seen an estimated nine million employees placed on the government’s furlough scheme and ...
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OpinionCarolyn Jones: Careful consideration is needed before making pensions decisions
The uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic means it is a crucial time for employers to support the financial wellbeing of staff. When it comes to concerns about pensions, employers should encourage staff not to panic and make rushed decisions without understanding all of the facts.For employees with defined ...
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OpinionChristopher Nuttall: Should the burden of pensions move to the employee?
Employers are familiar with the automatic-enrolment duties that oblige them to put certain staff into a pension scheme and contribute towards it. These duties began in 2012. But what comes next?The majority of schemes used in the private sector are defined contribution (DC) schemes in which the contributions, together with ...
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OpinionSam Smethers: Is pay transparency radical?
Sometimes the simple and obvious thing can still be perceived as radical. When it comes to pay transparency, the idea that we might find out what our colleagues are earning is, at one level, radical because pay secrecy is the norm in most workplaces and talking about pay is taboo. ...
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OpinionJames Poyser: Calls for employment rights class action mount
The IR35 reforms were postponed on 17 March 2020 as part of an exceptional Covid-19 £330 billion package of financial help announced by the government.Within 12 hours of the announcement, companies started to make a u-turn on blanket bans and inside IR35 decisions. Asda, BAE Systems and Marsh and McLennan ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Are you being supported through the Covid-19 pandemic?
How are you? I’m sure that is a question you have asked others on an almost daily basis during the ongoing pandemic; but how many times have you asked it of yourselves?Inevitably, there has been a great deal of focus over the past few weeks on how organisations are treating ...
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OpinionAndrew Osborne and Naomi Hanrahan-Soar: Government provides details on points-based immigration system
The Government released a policy statement on 19 February 2020, giving an outline of its plans for a points-based immigration system for highly skilled and skilled workers. The first phase of this will open in the autumn, with applicants being granted visas starting from 1 January 2021, and will apply ...
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OpinionSteven Wibberley: There is no time limit on support needed for bereavement
Bereavement is one of the most devastating things any of us will ever go through. For many employers, it can be difficult to know how to respond when an employee is bereaved, and how to ensure that the impact on both the individual and the organisation is minimised.Providing paid bereavement ...
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OpinionAnn Chalmers: Supporting bereaved employees to return to the workplace
Bereavement is one of the most common factors impacting employees’ performance at work. When events feel out of control, a supportive workplace can be an important source of structure and normality.However, the fear of returning to work and facing colleagues and a loss of confidence are not uncommon. Many bereaved ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Supporting employees through times of uncertainty
The Coronavirus has plunged businesses into uncertainty and there are reports that millions of jobs could be lost globally as a result of the pandemic. As well as suddenly dealing with financial worries, individuals are concerned about their loved ones getting the virus or contracting it themselves.Many businesses will not ...
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OpinionRaminder Grewal: Occupational health support for an isolated workforce
This month, our offices expanded. From a handful of central locations in our big cities, we have spread to hundreds of small offices around the UK, in bedrooms, empty lofts and on converted kitchen tables. For many, this means comfortable sweatshirts in place of suits and transforming an hour-long commute ...
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OpinionCharlie Barnes: Risks with national minimum wage reforms
On 11 February, the government announced a number of changes to national minimum wage legislation, due to take effect from 6 April 2020. Broadly, these are welcome and should help employers overcome the difficulties they have experienced in complying. However, risks do remain for employers.Naming and shamingOf most significance is ...
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OpinionChrista Sedlatschek: Why employee mental wellbeing is good for business
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that mental health is ‘a complete state of wellbeing’; people with good mental health are capable, resilient, productive and have good social support.Work is good for us in many ways: it gives us structure, purpose and a sense of identity, all of which promote ...
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OpinionDr Anne de Bono: Occupational health is key to helping employees return to work
Occupational medicine, the clinical specialty which evaluates the two-way relationship between health and work, is key to support the health and wellbeing of employees.Historically, occupational doctors focused on diseases caused by work; for example, miners’ lung conditions, and bladder cancer among tyre manufacturers. These problems have dramatically decreased, at least ...