Opinion – Page 33
-
OpinionDebbie Lovewell-Tuck: Boosting resilience remains key priority
As our Resilience Week, in association with Aon, draws to a close, it is time to reflect on some of the trends and issues currently shaping employers’ strategies in this area.There are few that would dispute that 2020 has been a challenging year. Very few of us are likely to ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Recognising opportunities for reinvention
For many of us, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it a series of challenges. What is less often discussed, however, is the opportunities that have also arisen as a consequence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the business world, particularly when it comes to how we work how ...
-
OpinionKatharine Moxham: Group risk market does exactly what it says on the tin during Covid-19
Whoever says insurers do not pay out can not have come across the group risk industry, which is as ever rising to the challenge as these benefits, employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness benefits, come into their own.Over the years, whatever the catastrophic event the group risk industry ...
-
OpinionAlastair Currie: How to support employees making the return to work
Owing to the pandemic, according to figures by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), an estimated 7.5 million UK jobs were put on furlough between 20 April and 10 May 2020, with that figure coming close to almost a quarter of the British population.Organisations need to be particularly sensitive when ...
-
OpinionHoma Wilson: Employers need to be aware of the mental wellbeing pressures caused by the pandemic
There is little doubt that the global Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic will have ongoing mental health implications for the population. Research undertaken by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), The mental health effects of the first two months of lockdown and social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, published ...
-
OpinionSteven Hull and Rosamund Wood: The pensions industry needs to generate interest among young employees
With the country entering economic recession, the Chancellor’s Kickstart scheme will provide much needed support for some young people seeking jobs in what may otherwise be an impossible market. For those aged over 22, these jobs will also come with the benefit of pension contributions, as the minimum wage paid ...
-
OpinionIskander Fernandez: Will furlough fraud be the next big scandal?
The furlough scheme has provided vital respite for UK firms struggling to pay wages as a result of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, currently accounting for up to 80% of an employee’s wages, to a cap of £2,500 a month.However, wherever there is a complex system, there are loopholes, and some may ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Supporting grief during a pandemic
Sunday 30 August marks National Grief Awareness Day in the UK. While grief is a very present issue for thousands at any one time, this year may be particularly poignant for many given the more-than 46,000 deaths that have occurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK ...
-
OpinionAmber Clayton: The pandemic’s impact on employee voluntary benefits
Covid-19 is disrupting economies and affecting household incomes and mental health alike. With these conditions in mind employers are taking necessary measures to maintain existing talent and ensure both employer and employee can endure. Changing household circumstances have resulted in financial, legal, and dependent care issues, as well as taking ...
-
OpinionLiam Goulding: Are employers and trustees working in harmony?
Employers have been facing unprecedented challenges in recent years, and this year in particular as a result of Covid-19 (Coronavirus). With the potential for significant reductions in cash flows and deepening funding strains for defined benefit (DB) schemes, trustees will be scrutinising employers more closely than ever in order to ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Should employers act on employees' commuting concerns?
Here at Employee Benefits, the numerous press releases we receive on a daily basis can be a good temperature check of the issues currently facing employers and their workforces. Not surprisingly, as the UK continues to open up post-lockdown, the focus for many has been on the return to workplaces ...
-
OpinionRoshani Hill: Private medical insurance market adapted to support employees during pandemic
A landmark deal was struck between the private health sector and NHS England in March 2020 to help the national effort to fight Covid-19 (Coronavirus). Freeing up capacity in private hospitals at that point in time was the right thing to do. But what did these changes mean for medical ...
-
OpinionStefan Martin: The future of remote working post Covid-19
A few months ago it would have been inconceivable that so many people would have been working from home for such an extended period of time. Now employers and employees are actively considering the role of remote working when the current crisis ends.Even before the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown, the government ...
-
OpinionThomas Clark: How share-based incentives can help retain and motivate key staff
As the economic fallout from Covid-19 (Coronavirus) becomes ever clearer, it is important businesses are aware of all the tools at their disposal that can help them survive these difficult times. One tool that has slipped under the radar and deserves greater recognition is share-based incentives. Share schemes help retain ...
-
OpinionKate Cooper: Employers can use creative means to engage employees during the pandemic
Microsoft's Newly remote research, published in June 2020, analyses data on its newly remote workforce and found that across many of its customers’ businesses, a trend cropped up very quickly after the shift to remote working: virtual social meetings. In response to the lack of natural touchpoints, such as grabbing ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: What does the current jobs market mean for benefits?
What a week it has been; in the space of just seven days, Office for National Statistics’ figures reported 730,000 fewer individuals are on payrolls since March 2020 and the UK economy officially entered recession.For the hundreds of thousands of individuals that have entered the UK jobs market, competition for ...
-
OpinionScott Cawood: Investing in post-pandemic workforces through total reward
As we trend toward the recovery phases of the economic meltdown triggered by Covid-19, people will begin returning to their workplaces. Many organisations will welcome back furloughed workers. The workforce we had prior to the pandemic will not be the same that returns. The pure mental and physical fatigue that ...
-
OpinionCacy-Leigh Neilson: The end of the furlough scheme
Significant job losses and business closures are on the horizon as the end of the furlough scheme fast approaches. It is imperative that businesses consider their ability to continue to employ and pay staff now and in the coming months, which, no doubt, will become particularly precarious when the government ...
-
OpinionWilliam Phillips and Michael Whitmore: Covid-19 brings opportunity to reassess work policies
The Covid-19 crisis has forced many people to change the way they work, with a huge increase in the numbers working from home. As certain restrictions lift, and life for some begins to return to a ‘new normal’, employers may have the opportunity to rebuild work policies to better support ...
-
OpinionJeremy Harris: Pensions remain an attractive form of investment
Covid-19 (Coronavirus) and lockdown have threatened livelihoods across all age groups. Constraints on current income may lead workers to defer financial planning decisions.They may be disinclined to invest following recent falls in markets. This reluctance may be most marked with pensions, which generally cannot be accessed until age 55.However, except ...