All Opinion articles – Page 76
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Opinion
Terry Gostelow: Rolling out global benefits platforms
The rollout of global benefit platforms is treading a similar path to those in the payroll and human resources information system (HRIS) industries, where global providers have become established in recent years. However, while payroll in particular, and sometimes HRIS, remain a back-office tool, rolling out a benefits platform globally ...
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Opinion
Carina Paine Schofield: Communicate to all generations
Each generation comes to the workplace with different backgrounds and skills, plus different wants and needs. As different elements drive their lives and careers, each generation thinks differently about the world of work.Our research shows a disconnect between generations on the approach to, and expectations of, work. Generation Y like ...
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Opinion
Leanne Rigby: Work-life balance is a cause for concern
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s Spring 2013 Employee outlook survey , 41% of employees are reporting excessive pressures at work on a regular and ongoing basis, while 43% feel they are not achieving the right balance between work and home life.These figures are a cause for ...
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Opinion
Pg 18-19 Interactive – Letter – Karen Partridge: Employers, it's good to talk
Employee Benefits’ cover story for September, How employers can link benefits strategy to employees’ needs, was a much-needed look at the significance of two-way dialogue between employers and employees in relation to employees’ benefits needs.It’s no great surprise that most employers don’t ask their employees about their needs, but what ...
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Opinion
Peter Murphy: Landmark ruling for DB schemes and sponsor
The ruling by the Supreme Court in the Nortel and Lehman versus The Pensions Regulator (TPR) case has been hailed as a landmark decision with significant consequences for lenders and the restructuring community. But is it as important for trustees of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes and their sponsors? At ...
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Opinion
Malcolm McLean: Younger staff should pay more attention to pensions
Worrying what their financial standing might be in 40 or 50 years’ time is not something you would have thought would trouble most young people unduly.Although one recent poll did suggest there is a growing anxiety among some in their 20s about possible income shortfalls and healthcare problems for their ...
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Opinion
Iain McMath: Cost-efficient Christmas incentives
When looking at Christmas incentive strategies, employers need to remember how diverse their workforce is and, consequently, what individuals would, or would not, appreciate as a gift. For example, a non-drinker may not appreciate a bottle of wine or champagne, and a vegetarian is likely to balk at a frozen ...
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Opinion
Richard Fleet: High auto-enrolment contributions disadvantagous
I refer to your article Calculating the cost of auto-enrolment (August 2013).The summary opines that: “An investment is being made, so employers should make sure that there is value in that investment by communicating with, and educating, employees.”I have to take issue with this. There is no question of this ...
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Opinion
Dame Carol Black: A healthy workplace is a global issue
It is self-evident that for each individual of working age, being sufficiently healthy is a condition for entering and maintaining work for as long as is necessary or possible. Indeed, maximising healthy working life is a desirable goal for individuals and society, everywhere. There is compelling evidence that the conditions ...
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Opinion
Angela Wright: The factors impacting flex design
Demographic and macro-economic changes such as an ageing population and increasing student debt, the increased movement of labour across borders and technological innovation, all contribute to a greater diversity of people in the workplace, with a corresponding need for a more flexible approach by employers to rewarding employees with diverse ...
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Opinion
Catherine Park: How to involve staff in benefits
These should be based on employee research to enable employers to find out what benefits their staff value. Employee surveys can help identify these preferences, but is important for employers not to rely on just one method of communication, such as email surveys, because a proportion of staff will not ...
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Opinion
Pádraig Floyd: The impact of financial education
After all, most people are interested in money. We all need it to survive, we like a little extra for creature comforts, and some of us are positively motivated by it. Yet no one teaches us how to go about acquiring it, and especially holding on to it.The trouble is, ...
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Opinion
Peter Crabtree: Choose right car funding method
While managing cars is likely to be a pain, it’s a highly valued benefit for staff. So how do employers minimise costs while also providing employees with cars they want and value?There are many options available to organisations to manage and fund cars. Although contract hire is by far the ...
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Opinion
Stephen Bevan: Under-pressure staff need employers’ support
With real wages almost stagnant during the downturn and with inflation, job loss and job insecurity eating into disposable income and financial stability, the time to step up employer support for financially strapped employees is long overdue.We see in our research the serious effects of money worries on employee attendance, ...
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Opinion
Benjamin Reid: Performance reviews need to be open and honest
For Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Scientific Management Approach in 1911, performance review was something managers did between themselves to establish what tasks workers should do.Even by 1957, Douglas MacGregor (he of Theory X and Y fame) was finding himself ‘uneasy’ at the way in which performance appraisal puts managers in the ...
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Opinion
Tom Bray: European Court rules against collective pay negotiations
The ECJ found that employees cannot continue to benefit from collectively agreed pay rises once they have transferred to a new employer which is neither party or privy to the pay negotiations.This case has very real implications for employers that have acquired, or will acquire, employees to whom industry- or ...
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Opinion
Mark Forato: Align group risk with need to boost productivity
The key point is the extent to which group risk benefits align with the need to boost productivity and growth in the current environment.Our research with Cass Business School shows that the UK workforce has changed dramatically in the past 30 years. However, many employers’ approach to staff benefits has ...
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Opinion
Tim Roberts: The connection between HR and sustainability
The connection between HR and sustainability might appear intangible. Does ‘employer of choice’ equal sustainable HR? The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development stresses that embedding sustainability requires us to link vision and values to the environmental contribution required from every employee. Yes, HR’s critical contribution is embedding transformational change. ...
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Opinion
Natasha Shearer: Creating a culture of wellbeing
Implementing this type of support service, where employees can discuss both personal and work problems, will be of huge benefit to the organisation, because it is often the case that employees feel vulnerable in disclosing that they are feeling stressed because of the perceived stigma attached to any mental health ...
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Opinion
Serena McCluskey: Workplace intervention can impact health and wellbeing
The biopsychosocial approach emphasises the influence of individual beliefs, attitudes and behaviours, and work environment factors, for example organisational policies, practices and workplace culture, on health and wellbeing.Specifically, it has been shown that for many common disorders, vocational rehabilitation comprising healthcare alone has little impact on occupational outcomes; significant input ...