Opinion – Page 5
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OpinionColin Barnes: Could mHealth technology transform wellbeing?
Transforming employee health and wellbeing is a challenge, with many programmes failing to deliver the desired results.It is easy to see why traditional health and wellbeing programmes do not always work. A one-size-fits-all approach is great for some employees, but can potentially alienate others. Similarly, offering a wide range of ...
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OpinionIan McKenna: Gamified apps help employees engage with benefits
Smartphones are embedded in the vast majority of consumers’ lives. This should make providing access to employee benefits and health interventions via an app a hygiene factor for any organisation, but is simply enabling an app enough to drive engagement?Phones are littered with applications that have been downloaded with enthusiasm ...
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OpinionDiane Lightfoot: Why talking about disability is vital for health and wellbeing strategies
Often, when people think of disability, they imagine a wheelchair user, and consider it to be something present from birth. In reality, the majority of conditions are not immediately visible, and most are acquired.As the likelihood of acquiring a disability increases with age, an ageing workforce means that more people ...
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OpinionNicholas Stretch: Preparing for new reporting obligations on engagement and pay
This year sees the implementation of several corporate governance developments which reward managers, among others, need to get to grips with. Although newspaper headlines continue to focus on executive pay levels, a number of other reward-related changes, which have received far less publicity, need to be considered.For 2019 onward, so ...
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OpinionJenn Sutherland-Miller: Staying connected is vital for remote organisations
At Tortuga, 'on your terms' is not just a snappy, feel-good corporate slogan, it is a way of life. With a team of 10 fully remote employees across three countries, two continents, and four time-zones, staying connected is both challenging and vital. Tortuga’s culture is one of trust and outcome-based ...
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OpinionBrad O’Neil: Use the right communication technology to connect remote staff
The rapid growth of remote working is a mark of the changing world of the current century; this is a trend that cannot be ignored by employers.Organisations are evolving to offer employees the benefits of working remotely, but are often left with concerns about how to keep these individuals engaged ...
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OpinionLesley Alexander: The pensions employee experience
At The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) conference this year, the key theme centred on engaging employees with their workplace pensions.Outside of the interested few, this can undoubtedly be an uphill struggle. However, if we do not address the under-saving culture in the UK, we will be faced with ...
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OpinionJo Moffatt: Benefits packages need engaging communications to be a success
Spending time and money setting up a great benefits package, designed with the needs of an employee audience in mind, is just the beginning. Fail to communicate it properly, and employers might as well not have bothered.Poor communications mean wasted money, wasted time, and not to mention a singularly wasted ...
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OpinionSuzanne Peck: Understanding benefits can build engagement and productivity
Employees who are aware of the benefits on offer to them are more likely to be advocates for their employer, as well as being more engaged and more productive, staying with the business for longer, as well as taking less time off.Whether a pension scheme, paid leave for bereavement or ...
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OpinionJane Crosby: Change in the workplace and how to avoid conflict
In times of uncertainty, organisations facing falling profits have to find a means of reducing their overheads to ensure their continuing survival.Employees are usually the most important and expensive resource for a business. When all other efficiency savings have been made, the difficult decision to reduce employee numbers may need ...
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OpinionScott Cawood: Know the organisation before benchmarking total reward
How do top performing organisations attract the absolute best talent? It is never just the number on a pay stub; instead, the answer is complex and multi-layered.In a competitive employment market, it is critical to benchmark reward. This means not only looking outward at the rewards offered by competitors, but, ...
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OpinionPhil Sproston: How can total reward strategies help create top employers?
Total reward strategies have come to be highly effective weapons for many top employers in the UK. To understand why, it is important to break down the words themselves.Organisations are becoming increasingly broad in their perspective regarding what reward really means, and so the word 'total' is key. While 'reward' ...
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OpinionJohn Forth: How have total reward trends developed?
A major feature of the reward landscape in recent years has been the prolonged period of wage stagnation; according to Employee earnings in the UK: 2018, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in October 2018, average wages are still below levels recorded in 2008, after adjusting for inflation.As ...
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OpinionKatrina Philippou: What is the key to increasing workplace happiness?
Most forward-thinking employers have begun to recognise happiness at work as a key piece of the productivity puzzle; it is a factor that cannot be ignored, with research conducted by Warwick University finding that happy employees are 12% more productive.Personal Group runs a UK employee happiness survey each year, which ...
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OpinionMark Earl: Workplace communities bring benefits to health and wellbeing
Good employers are always looking for ways to support the health and wellbeing of their employees, and it is more than window dressing; staff who feel supported tend to be healthier and more productive. Establishing employee networks is an effective part of any strategic approach to health and wellbeing.At Shaw ...
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OpinionSteven Doyle: How to use behavioural psychology to tailor a benefits approach
Behavioural psychology was first popularised in 2008, with the publication of the bestselling book Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, written by University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler and Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunsteinand. Since then, there has been a growth in the application of ‘nudge theory’, ...
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OpinionJonathan Watts-Lay: Ensuring the savings effort pays off
Nearly half (46%) of all UK adults rate their own knowledge about financial matters as low and almost a quarter (24%) have little or no confidence in managing their money, according to the Financial Conduct Authority's Understanding the financial lives of UK adults report, published in October 2017.The impact of ...
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OpinionRosie Gloster: Embedding flexible working into your organisational culture
In some organisations, employees who work flexibly can experience a lack of skills development, or pay and career progression, while workplace cultures and practices can at times leave flexible or part-time employees in isolation.This seems to be a negative outcome of the discord between HR policies and the realities of ...
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OpinionBill Alexander: There is more to work than money in the wallet
Employers need to adjust their approach to motivation in the workplace and cannot ignore the direct link to performance, productivity and profit.It is fair to say that the majority of today's forward-thinking organisations have motivation strategies in place. However, it appears that many have the wrong approach.It is not just ...
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OpinionDr Justin Varney: Using technology as an enabler for workplace wellbeing
Technology can be an amazing enabler for personal health and wellbeing in the workplace. However, it is only useful if it is used.Many have downloaded apps in a moment of inspiration, or guilt, only for them to collect digital dust after a few days. Although trying each one may help ...