All Opinion articles – Page 83
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Opinion
Andrew Kinder: What are employers doing around stress in the workplace?
Employers could be forgiven for reacting to National Stress Awareness Day on 2 November by saying it is not a business priority and they are too busy responding to difficult trading conditions. However, given findings from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s October 2011 Absence management survey that stress ...
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Opinion
Caroline Jowett-Ive: I wanted that true global remit
Viewpoint: Caroline Jowett-Ive, group vice-president reward at TravelportFor Caroline Jowett-Ive, group-vice president reward at Travelport, a global role was always her preferred destination.After starting her reward career in a UK reward and benefits post at Virgin Mobile, she was offered the chance to move to Virgin Management, the holding company ...
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Opinion
Charles Cotton: Take care with Christmas perks
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s Employee outlook: summer 2012 survey, published in May, found that more than half of employees are facing financial struggles, so it is important that employers recognise this when introducing or changing an incentive scheme, especially one that is themed around, or linked to, ...
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Opinion
Helen Dean: Time for change
This industry forum is supplied by Nest.With the major changes happening to workplace pensions from October, it is important that employers of all sizes start thinking about their own arrangements as soon as possible, because it can take up to 18 months to prepare.They will need to consider everything from ...
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Opinion
Peter Reilly: Small employer? Think big for flexible benefits
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have an immediate disadvantage compared with large organisations when it comes to flexible benefits. They cannot use scale to obtain discounts, nor do they have the funds to offer a full range of benefits. So SMEs must use their imagination to create attractive and appropriate ...
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Opinion
Lesley Fidler: Tax best practice
Unless tax specialists are working at the giddy heights where tax planning merges into tax avoidance/political outrage, the substance of a transaction is usually of little concern. Down at ground level in the well-trodden realms where payroll and flexible benefits schemes collide, it is the form the transaction takes that ...
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Opinion
John Puddephatt: Winning plans for flex
A core set of four to 10 benefits are present in most UK [employers’] flexible benefits plans. There is a long list of other common benefits.Most employers with successful mature plans that have been in place for five or more years add one to two benefits a year and, at ...
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Opinion
Martha How: Olympian journey for benefits
This comment is written by the sponsor of the Employee Benefits/Aon Hewitt Flexible benefits supplement 2012The year 1948 was momentous for Britain and for benefits. London hosted the Olympic Games, the National Health Service (NHS) was founded and the basic state pension was introduced.This year, amid the excitement of the ...
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Opinion
Susan Jones: How many default funds?
Offering a choice of default funds to pension scheme members rather defeats their purpose. Defaults are for those who do not want to make any choice about investment, do not feel capable of doing it or think that someone is doing it for them. One of the painful facts about ...
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Opinion
Martin Palmer: Building a platform for success
This industry forum is supplied by Friends LifeCorporate platforms can really revive an employer’s benefits provision and have been a big buzzword in workplace savings for some time. They allow employers to offer a range of financial benefits and investment options, such as pensions, Isas and investment accounts, which better ...
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Opinion
Charles Cotton: United approach required
A number of challenges are encouraging HR professionals in larger organisations to examine workplace savings. One is that the average life expectancy of employees is gradually rising due to medical improvements and better lifestyles.Because of this and the shape of public finances, the state pension age is being progressively raised ...
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Opinion
Martin Thompson: Gearing up for a new era
A message from the sponsor of the Employee Benefits/Premier Pensions and Workpalce Savings Research 2012:This year will be remembered for many things, not least the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games. But for the benefits industry, it will be remembered for the start of auto-enrolment.Many employers have for years offered ...
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Opinion
Mark Polson: Corporate Isas great new hope
In what is probably the last throw of the dice for workplace savings before Nest (national savings employment trust) drives a coach and horses through the industry, the new corporate platforms aren’t just opening up investment and functionality, they are adding wrappers, too. Workplace cash and stocks-and-shares Isas (individual savings ...
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Opinion
Charles Gillespie: Auto-enrolment is not the end
This Workplace Savings Industry Forum is supplied by Close Brothers:With auto-enrolment just about upon us, discussions around saving in the workplace have generally been focused on the sponsoring employer’s pension scheme.While we cannot underestimate the importance of saving for our retirement, it is also important that employees are in a ...
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Opinion
Debbie Lovewell: Employers under pressure to reduce costs
Our 14th annual healthcare research reflects the pressures many employers are experiencing because of the current economic climate. As the UK has once again entered into recession, more than half of our respondents say they have come under increased pressure to reduce costs over the past 12 months.To tackle this ...
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Opinion
Frances Corbett: Financial education
People are living longer. Even if we work past our late 60s, many of us will, hopefully, enjoy at least 20 years in retirement and the income we will need has to be earned while working.Despite this, about seven million people are not convinced and seem unconcerned about being financially ...
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Opinion
Peter Vassallo: Is it time to update the restrictions on sharesave schemes?
Yes. The contribution limits on sharesave schemes have remained unchanged since the early days of the scheme. At that time, there was probably a view on how much of an employee’s income it was prudent for them to save for investment in the shares of their own employer.Unless that view ...
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Opinion
Malcolm Hurlston: Is it time to update the restrictions on sharesave schemes?
Companies introduce sharesave schemes to encourage the savings habit in their employees, and to provide corporate glue around their share price. They have been around for more than 30 years, are popular and employees are comfortable with how they work.Some might say it is best not to change a winning ...
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Opinion
John Collison: Is it time to update the restrictions on sharesave schemes?
Sharesave schemes were introduced by the Conservative Party in 1980, to widen share ownership, enable workers to have a stake in their company, align their interests more closely with those of their employer and, perhaps most importantly from the employee’s perspective, to provide a safe and relatively risk-free means of ...
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Opinion
Martin Palmer: Buzzing about corporate platforms
This industry forum is supplied by Friends LifeCorporate platforms help employers stand out from the crowd and give employees greater control over how they save, says Martin PalmerCorporate platforms have been a buzzword in workplace savings for a while now. What is so good about them is they give employees ...