All Opinion articles – Page 56
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OpinionCatherine Rickard: How can employers support financially stressed employees?
A culture of ‘spend today, rather than save for tomorrow’ is affecting many employees’ wellbeing and productivity. Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) research, the Employee financial wellbeing report, published in January 2017, confirmed this by showing that one in four employees report ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Can we ever really plan for disaster?
Since Wednesday morning, many of us will have been following the news of the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in west London. Since the news broke and the scale of the disaster became apparent, social media and public forums have been inundated with offers of help for those involved, from ...
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OpinionPolly Mackenzie: Addressing money worries at work
Imagine trying to concentrate at work when you know the bailiffs might be round at your house while you are out, and that when you check your phone at the end of the shift there will be 20 missed calls from debt collectors. I know I could not focus on ...
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OpinionRachael Saunders: Supporting carers will help older staff to stay in work
As our population gets older, many more people will need care due to chronic health conditions or disability. This is often provided by friends or relatives who are balancing that vitally important caring role with a paid job. One in five 50-64 year-olds are carers, but Business in the Community’s ...
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OpinionRosalind Connor: What the British Airways pensions case means for trustees and employers
The decision in the case of British Airways vs Airways Pension Scheme Trustee was handed down on 19 May 2017. The case, as the judge remarked, has been a lengthy one, and the appeal underway means that the case may well run for many more years. The case is the ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Celebrating the value of benefits
What’s the quirkiest benefit you offer to your employees? Maybe you allow them to bring their pets to work, provide free drinks on a Friday or offer some unusual staff outings or trips?Earlier this week, Glassdoor published details of 20 organisations on the UK’s Top Quirky Employee Perks and Benefits ...
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OpinionPatrick Thomson: Effectively managing age diversity will benefit employers and staff
The number of older people in society is growing; more people are living longer, which means more people are working longer.As the workforce ages, mixed-aged teams will become an increasing part of the day-to-day reality of many businesses. Older workers bring very many valuable benefits, and like staff of any ...
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OpinionCrowley Woodford: Take stock of benefits strategies in light of upcoming changes
Employee benefit offerings come in all shapes and sizes. At one end of the spectrum, there are the traditional employee benefits such as contributions to an employee's pension scheme, childcare vouchers, and subsidised gym membership, and at the other end there are wine clubs, unlimited holiday allowances, and free-bacon Thursdays.With ...
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OpinionSarah Miller: Key considerations for a pensions change project
There are three questions employers should ask before embarking on a pensions change project. First, they should question whether they can make the change. Employment contracts should be checked. If the change would breach the contract it will need varying. If the contract does not permit variations,the employer might need ...
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OpinionJoe Aiston and Michael Chattle: Holiday pay claims decision upheld by the EAT
The law surrounding the calculation of holiday pay has seen a string of important cases recently; however this is an area of employment law where there is still a certain level of uncertainty for employers. An Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) decision earlier this month (May 2017) has provided some small ...
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OpinionColin Jackson: Payroll – do it yourself or outsource?
Paying staff accurately and on time every time requires a deep understanding of complex legislation and that, in turn, requires investment. For many organisations, the questions are: should that investment be in-house or is it cost-beneficial to outsource? Should all processes be outsourced or just some of them?Before an employer ...
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OpinionStephen Bevan: Workforce health as a business asset?
The health and work landscape in the UK is changing rapidly. Compared with a decade ago, more employers have come to recognise that they need to provide support for employees who experience poor health. This has had a number of consequences.First, what gets defined as a health issue has undergone ...
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OpinionDavid Haigh: Low-cost financial education interventions can deliver a high return on investment
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reported in its January 2017 Financial wellbeing: the employee view research with Close Brothers Asset Management, that money worries have affected the ability of one in four employees to do their job. It found that people at all wage levels can be ...
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OpinionAdam Kingl: Rethinking reward for generation Y
One thing is for certain: employees are a lot less loyal than they used to be. Generation Y in particular, our youngest employees in their twenties and early thirties, seem to jump from employer to employer with an almost frightening rapidity. Make no mistake either, this is not just a ...
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OpinionHannah Pettitt: Mental health first aid support at Transport for London
Over the past few years, I have become interested and passionate about mental health and wellbeing, which has grown from personal experience. In 2015, I became a mental health first aider with my training funded by my employer, Transport for London. It considers the health and wellbeing of its employees ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: On a winning streak
This week, we were absolutely thrilled when Employee Benefits was named Pensions and Benefits Publication of the Year at the Willis Towers Watson Awards 2017.This is the third consecutive year that we have won this title and, every year, it has meant a great deal to us, not least because ...
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OpinionEmma Mamo: Staff should feel able to talk openly about mental health
Every suicide is a tragedy. The causes of suicide are many and complex and vary from person to person. We know that often people struggle in silence and find it difficult to know how to ask for help.Figures from the Office for National Statistics, published in 2014, show that male ...
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OpinionLouise Ward: Conversation can break down barriers around suicide and mental health
Over the last 40 years, we have seen a step change in the safety performance of workplaces in Britain. There have been improvements in workplace health as well, however, the issue of mental health remains a real challenge. One in six workers in the UK are suffering from stress, anxiety ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Pensions allowance controversy continues
The government’s planned reduction of the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) from £10,000 to £4,000 has always been a somewhat controversial move.It hit the headlines again earlier this week when the government confirmed that it would delay legislating for the reduction to the MPAA after the clauses that would legislate ...
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OpinionStephen Ravenscroft: Gender pay gap reporting considerations for multinational employers
The landscape for gender pay gap reporting is shifting fast, and multinational organisations face a maze of obligations in the different countries in which they operate. This poses practical and operational challenges.Approaches to pay gap reporting vary vastly between countries; thresholds for employee numbers required to trigger reporting requirements differ, ...