All Opinion articles – Page 77
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Opinion
Rachel Brougham: Employers need to consider auto-enrolment costs
If these are not available, employers will start to incur costs in cleaning up their data and deciding what contributions to pay. But, as so many commentators have pointed out, auto-enrolment is not just a pensions problem.For example, Whitbread recently reported having spent more than £1 million on implementation alone. ...
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Opinion
Robin Hames: Learning from auto-enrolment experience
Auto-enrolment, unsurprisingly, featured prominently in the Employee Benefits/Capita Pensions Research 2013.But the big difference this year is that there is now a significant split in respondents: about one-third of respondents have now hit their auto-enrolment date, with two-thirds still awaiting their step into the new world.So, those waiting to take ...
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Opinion
John Chilman: How can employers see a return from pensions?
It’s sad, as a pensions manager, that inertia is the main thing responsible for the boom in pension savings, but ultimately inevitable, when the engaged have already joined or taken the active decision to opt out.So now we’re faced with the challenge of articulating the value of a benefit to ...
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Opinion
Lovewell's Logic: Removing barriers for post-maternity returnees
Many factors influence a mother’s decision to return to work following maternity leave. The desire to balance their new life as a parent with their working life will often be a key consideration, so employers that are willing, and able, to offer flexible working patterns may find this stands them ...
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Opinion
Emma Scott: Trust-based relationships are key to success
Tesco reported a loss in sales in the three months following the scandal, which caused its share price to drop by 5%, demonstrating the impact of supplier relationships on organisations’ reputation.Of course, supplier relationships vary between employers. Some are purely transactional, but those that have the greatest impact are nurtured ...
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Opinion
Jackie Palmer: Team of the year award will be an inspiration
We have had a busy and eventful year in Freshfields’ benefits, transforming our flex site, implementing a suite of health and wellbeing initiatives, and engaging employees.To get some external recognition for everything we have tried to achieve is fantastic.We believe passionately in the role of benefits in differentiating Freshfields as ...
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Opinion
Jamie Clark: Consultancy charge ban might cause opt-outs
Employers that are unwilling or unable to pay an explicit fee to a ?nancial adviser will not bene?t from the advice and support that advisers can bring, which could restrict the choice of provider.This could lead to worse member outcomes due to restricted investment choice, lack of workplace marketing material ...
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Opinion
Andrew Morris: Choice is key to dental benefits
The key to successful and mutually beneficial dental benefits is employee choice.Having access to the most relevant dental treatments at appropriate prices will encourage staff to visit a dentist regularly.This, in turn, will increase their appreciation of good oral health and reduce absenteeism through ill-health.As oral health continues to improve, ...
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Opinion
Lynne Graham: How healthy eating is tied to employee engagement
Showing that you care about every aspect of the work experience is the bedrock of employee engagement. It provides the foundation of trust from which employees are prepared to work harder and smarter.We know that diet can have a massive impact on a person’s ability to do their job. We’re ...
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Opinion
Sarah Page: Work together for a healthy working environment
However, it is widely recognised that good work is good for health, contrasting with the higher rates of physical and mental ill-health among the unemployed and those exposed to poorly-managed hazardous work.So it is in everyone’s interests to promote a timely return to work and appropriate rehabilitation for staff who ...
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Opinion
Michael M Jones: Tribunal ruling could lead to more civil partner pension claims
But a recent employment tribunal case, Walker vs Innospec and others in November 2012, has called into question the UK’s implementation of European equality legislation in relation to pension rights for civil partners and challenges this orthodoxy.Walker had been a member of the Innospec company pension scheme since his employment ...
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Opinion
Katharine Moxham: Align group risk benefits to make the package work
For example, group life assurance is traditionally valued by employees and has become an essential core benefit to attract and retain staff.Group income protection can replace an ill-health early retirement promise after the closure of a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme. It can maintain an employee’s financial resilience when illness ...
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Opinion
Dr Yousef Habbab: Manage heart disease from day one
If the employer has an occupational health provision, the employee will be contacted to clarify the clinical picture and the likely impact the condition may have on their employment, in terms of capability to undertake the role and the need for any necessary adjustments.An employer may also become aware of ...
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Opinion
Stephen J. Perkins: Employers view auto-enrolment as call to action
The legislation is being phased in, starting with large organisations and applying to small employers over the next few years.From the evidence my team collected for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Annual reward survey, published in May 2013, employers are highly exercised by auto-enrolment.The respondent sample, which ...
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Opinion
Jonathan Watts-Lay: Staff need wide view of savings options
The financial world has changed a lot in the last few years, with many employers saying it is down to staff to decide, from the benefits on offer, which ones are right for them and how to maximise their value.The example often quoted is the move from defined benefit to ...
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Opinion
Claire Curtin: Ensure investments are managed responsibly
Many schemes also offer an ethical fund option for members. With the shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) schemes, staff should be allowed to ensure their investments are managed in a socially and environmentally responsible way.Responsible investment overall does not have to be just through an ethical ...
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Opinion
Damian James: Employers should plan now for future company car tax changes
The coalition government has continued the policy of tightening benefit-in-kind tax thresholds year on year and has already announced rates to the end of 2016/17. In 2013/14, the 10% company car tax rate applies to cars with emissions of 76-94g/km, but that will rise to 11% in 2014/15, with corresponding ...
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Opinion
Chris Judge: Lifetime pension allowance limits changing
Members’ pension administrator will only be able to tell them whether they are nearing the lifetime limit in their current scheme, but benefits from all other schemes, both workplace and personal pensions, need to be taken into account when considering the lifetime allowance, which was introduced on 6 April 2006. ...
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Opinion
Dev Raval: HR needs to act on low pay
Well, it could be a case of ‘not me guv’, that is, HR doesn’t have a role or responsibility in managing pay, it’s someone else in finance or the board. That doesn’t hold up. HR formally has some significant responsibility for setting pay in most organisations. There may be variations ...
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Opinion
Cary Cooper: How to build sustainable staff motivation
I have real doubts that sustainable motivation comes from a bonus culture. As we have seen in the banking industry, it had the unintended consequence of encouraging risk-taking behaviour that ultimately created the financial crisis.For me, sustainable motivation comes from some sense of ownership of success. This can come in ...