All Opinion articles – Page 60
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Looking forward and looking back
It may be a sign that I’m getting older, but time seems to fly past scarily quickly these days.It certainly doesn’t seem like a year, for example, since our last Employee Benefits Live.Reaching milestones in the year such as this always seem like a good time to stop and take ...
-
OpinionPeter Reilly: How can employers build empowerment into their reward policies?
Empowering staff is an understandable objective for organisations operating in today’s knowledge and service economy. Releasing employees’ discretionary effort can lead to higher productivity and better customer service, and one key way of getting greater employee engagement is through giving colleagues more autonomy. This means offering them access to more ...
-
OpinionGeorgina Beechinor: Key pensions considerations for employers in the wake of the Brexit vote
Pension schemes have been grappling with volatile markets in the run-up to and in the wake of the vote for Brexit. As the dust settles, we examine some of the wider issues for employers.Employers with schemes based on members’ final salary, also known as defined benefit (DB) schemes, need to ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: People strategies in a gig economy
What does the gig economy mean for your business?Does this freer, more fluid way of working mean your business can source the manpower it needs in a cost-effective way, enabling you to scale your workforce according to business demands? Or is it a way of avoiding some of the cost ...
-
OpinionMelanie Lane: Festive reward messages should be inclusive
It is important that employers are sensitive to all employees’ religious and secular beliefs over the Christmas period. While it is likely that many staff will be celebrating Christmas to some extent, not all will, and some may want to keep sufficient annual leave for a religious celebration at a ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Are pay increases discriminatory?
When did you last ask for a pay increase? Is this something you do regularly, or like so many of us, would you only consider doing so when changing roles? Are you even comfortable doing so at all? And if you have requested a pay rise, how successful were you?If ...
-
OpinionKatherine Wilson: Ageing population intensifies need for caring policies
One in nine workers in the UK care for a family member or friend who is older, disabled or ill, according to the 2011 Census. The pressures of juggling work and care, without the right support from employers or local services, have forced millions of people to give up work ...
-
OpinionTim Middleton: Pensions education must start early on in employees' working lives
Automatic enrolment owes its success to the harnessing of inertia. Employees are, by default, enrolled into their employer’s pension scheme and contributions are automatically deducted and invested on their behalf.However, in spite of its success in bringing so many employees into workplace pension saving, automatic enrolment is not on its ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Work-life balance takes centre stage
How well does your organisation support employees’ work-life balance?This week, Glassdoor revealed the top 20 organisations providing employees with a good work-life balance, based on staff ratings submitted to the jobs and recruitment site. The list comprises employers from a wide variety of industry sectors, including Goodman Masson, Cisco Systems, ...
-
OpinionLovewell's Logic: What will Brexit mean for effective global reward strategies?
Over the past few months, one topic has dominated numerous conversations: the result of the EU referendum. Whichever way you voted and whatever you think of the Brexit result, there can be no denying that the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) will have widespread ramifications.The true reach ...
-
OpinionSally Hart: What are the key factors in creating a global benefits strategy?
Consider, first of all, the desired outcome: an effective global benefits strategy provides a framework for benefit plan design in all countries of operation. It will help align practices with shared objectives, and centralising structures may bring about significant efficiencies, reducing administration and cost. The global benefits strategy should be ...
-
OpinionJill Clucas: How Brexit could affect pension schemes
Funding levels in defined benefit (DB) occupational pension schemes have caused immediate concern, with falling gilt yields increasing deficits significantly. Employers with open DB schemes may consider the Brexit vote the trigger to replace DB accrual with a defined contribution (DC) arrangement for the future.Also important is the financial strength, ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Should bonuses be scrapped?
Are bonuses an effective tool to drive employee performance? Or are they too often perceived as an entitlement rather than a reward for performance?Earlier this week, Woodford Investment Management hit the headlines when it was revealed that founder Neil Woodford axed bonuses in favour of paying a flat basic salary ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Tackling the mental health pay gap
Inequality and prejudice of any kind are one of my top pet peeves. In this day and age, it never fails to astound me that, despite the progress made in many areas, dealing with such issues is still a daily battle for many individuals.However, every now and then, a finding ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Overcoming barriers to shared parental leave
Families and caring arrangements seem to change with each generation. The days of mothers being expected to leave their work and careers in order to stay at home and take on the lion’s share of care and family responsibilities are now, thankfully, no longer the norm. One of the great ...
-
OpinionIan Hodson: Employees need a tip-top consumer experience at work
The Consumer Rights Act was designed to protect our rights when we shop on the high street or online, but the principles need to extend to the workplace as employees increasingly expect to be treated as consumers.This means that employers need to ensure that their voluntary benefits package, and indeed ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Is your workplace ready for Rio?
This week finally sees the 2016 Olympics get underway in Rio, after what seems like months of increasingly critical headlines questioning the readiness of the host nation and its ability to successfully stage ‘the greatest show on Earth’.Whether such speculation will ultimately prove to be justified remains to be seen, ...
-
OpinionIan McKenna: Robo-advice is designed to help plug the financial advice gap
The size of the ‘advice gap’, the number of people who do not get financial advice, creates a significant risk that employees will seek to remain employed beyond the point where they are productive, because of inadequate retirement income.Recent moves, such as the so-called retail distribution review (RDR), have raised ...
-
OpinionAkshay Choudhry: Uber test case could disrupt UK's burgeoning gig economy
In July, the Central London Employment Tribunal heard evidence concerning the employment status of two Uber drivers in a test case that could have a significant bearing on the rights of the tens of thousands of Uber drivers in the UK, and potentially countless others working in ...
-
OpinionAaron Hayward: Employment policies need to be reviewed in light of changing workforce demographics
By 2025, generation Y is expected to make up 75% of the workforce, according to the Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation's Gen Y study, published in April 2011. If managers and business owners want to grow and retain the younger workforce, they will need to take a look at, ...