All Opinion articles – Page 58
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OpinionBridging the employee engagement gap
There is an engagement gapAlmost three-quarters (71%) of business leaders surveyed by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services for the report The impact of employee engagement on performance, published in September 2013, said that employee engagement was critical to their long-term success. But only 24% of the same people described their ...
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OpinionRita Trehan: Traditional employee engagement strategies will soon lead nowhere
Organisations across the globe who pay lip service to employment strategies speak of keeping employees engaged. Although maintaining staff motivation is essential in keeping any business competitive, a report by Steelcase, Engagement and the global workplace, published in May 2016, reveals that only one in three employees feel engaged with ...
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OpinionKevin Gude: Salary sacrifice changes risk turning certain health benefits into luxuries
The forthcoming changes to salary sacrifice rules, in particular, the effect on health screening and other medical benefits, reflect a carelessly fragmented attitude towards the nation’s wellbeing and fitness. As the NHS struggles to meet the needs of an ageing, increasingly long-living but unfit population, the Treasury is withdrawing its ...
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OpinionMarc Jones: Key compliance considerations for employers dealing with tips for staff
There are approximately 150,000 UK businesses in the hospitality, leisure and service sectors where tipping is common. These sectors employ some two million workers and are an important part of the UK economy. Concerns have been raised about employers’ treatment of tips, gratuities and service charges to workers and the ...
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OpinionSarah Henchoz and Paul McCarthy: Local jurisdiction must be considered in a global benefits strategy
It is legally possible for an employer to provide a global benefits package, and many employers decide to do so because it is administratively more efficient than offering localvariations and, crucially for a global workforce, ensures parity of treatment across the organisation.A global package is attractive for employers with a ...
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OpinionMiranda Seath: Employees need to recognise the importance of seeking financial guidance
Chancellor Philip Hammond avoided throwing any deliberate hand grenades at pensions policy in the Autumn Statement 2016. There was no tinkering with the triple lock or pensions tax relief despite speculation from some commentators that there might be. Although the triple lock looks to be under threat after 2020, Hammond ...
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OpinionSara Duxbury: Building a successful employee wellbeing strategy
The legal sector has more of a reputation for long hours and tight deadlines than it does for standout employee engagement. With this in mind, firms looking to attract and retain the best talent need to focus on supporting staff, keeping morale high and maintaining standards despite the high demands ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Permission to speak
How open is your organisation’s culture when it comes to discussing employees’ mental health? Do staff feel able to speak freely about any issues they may be experiencing? Or do many still feel unable to do so for fear of repercussion?Perhaps most importantly, even if the organisation believes it has ...
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OpinionAdam Corlett: Enough of the pessimism about the rise of the robots
Will all our jobs soon be replaced by robots? Recent headlines suggest so. But historical experience casts doubt on such sensationalism. Indeed there are reasons for us to encourage more automation, rather than worry about the harm it will do.It is common now to hear theories about how new technologies ...
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OpinionKate Hurn and Penny Hunt: Potential artificial intelligence and automation employment law issues in 2017
In January this year, a Japanese insurance company announced plans to replace 34 employees with robots. Automation is likely to affect labour markets worldwide and the reality is drawing nearer; RBS and NatWest announced in 2016 that they will be using a virtual chatbot to deal with UK customer queries ...
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OpinionProfessor Vlatka Hlupic: Organisational culture is key to getting the most out of technology
Dealing with the impact of technology on the workplace is, to a large extent, a matter of mindset. We can choose to adopt either one of the two scenarios: the first one is to get drawn into a fear-based and fixed mindset and worry that technology might take away our ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Are high heels a step too far?
How far should employers be able to go in dictating what employees wear at work? I don’t mean in terms of uniforms, there are very valid reasons for these to exist in numerous organisations, but rather in terms of dictating precise stipulations around elements of employees’ personal clothing where they ...
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OpinionKaren Walker-Bone: Consider psychosocial factors when addressing musculoskeletal disorder risks
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), for example, back pain and arthritis, are very common and, alongside mental health conditions, cause most of the UK’s burden of sickness absence and long-term work disability.Work factors can increase the risk of MSDs. Interestingly, it is not only physical workplace exposures such as heavy lifting, pushing ...
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OpinionCatherine Rickard: The case for considering employees’ financial wellbeing is compelling
Significant proportions of employees are facing increasing financial challenges. For example, demographic and policy changes, rising education and housing costs, an ageing population and rising state pension age, mean that the financial pressures facing employees are only likely to intensify over the coming years.But why should employers be concerned if ...
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OpinionJackie Spencer: The workplace is a good place to start engaging people with their finances
Many people are not saving enough for retirement and with over 40 million people in work across the UK, the workplace is a good place to start engaging people with their finances.A wide range of organisations are already involved in helping people to manage their money better: government bodies, commercial ...
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OpinionMichael Rose: Build flexible benefits slowly to tie in what employees value
It all starts with the aims of the flexible benefits plan. As an organisation, agree why flexible benefits are being introduced and what success will look like. By definition, providing choice is almost certainly one of the aims. But it does not mean that complete flexibility has to be provided ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Combine extrinsic and intrinsic reward to create a tailored motivation strategy
There are a number of ways organisations can boost motivation. One is to use extrinsic rewards, such as pay. A simple example is that employees are motivated to sell more by being offered a financial incentive, such as commission.However, employees are only likely to change their behaviours if they value ...
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OpinionClaire McCartney: What aspects of financial wellbeing matter most to employees?
The twice yearly Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Halogen Employee outlook survey of more than 2,000 employees investigates the key workplace issues from their perspective. For the first time, the latest autumn survey, published in November 2016, explored employee financial wellbeing, which we define as a state ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Resolving to overcome gender pay inequality
Happy New Year!No doubt this week, you’ll have seen countless emails and press articles about the key things you need to be aware of and/or focusing on during 2017. One item that has been on every such list I’ve seen has been the need to begin preparing for the introduction ...
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OpinionAnna Humphrey and Anna McCaffrey: Worker-status cases reflect growing scrutiny on changing ways of working
In November 2016, four couriers for CitySprint began their case in the Employment Tribunal alleging they should be considered workers and not self-employed contractors.Coming in the wake of October's Uber judgement in which the Employment Tribunal found that Uber drivers were workers, the case represents growing scrutiny on whether the ...