Opinion – Page 37
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OpinionDavid Jones: Managing employees during Covid-19
We are in unprecedented times, unchartered waters for employers. With some businesses focused on simply keeping themselves afloat during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, it is important not to lose sight of the biggest asset to any business, its employees. How businesses manage their employees today is going to have a ...
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OpinionRebecca Peters: Engagement lessons that organisations can learn from social media
Given the prevalence of social media in most people’s lives, it should be one of the most accessible ways for employees to exercise their voice. However, our research tells us that business social media is less commonly used to solicit voice than one-to-ones, staff surveys and team meetings.Organisations may be ...
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OpinionTim Middleton: Pensions support for employers and staff is essential during the Covid-19 crisis
The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) crisis has had the most serious peacetime impact on society for over a century. With most of the population subject to lockdown, employers have scaled down their activities or suspended them altogether. This has seen an estimated nine million employees placed on the government’s furlough scheme and ...
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OpinionCarolyn Jones: Careful consideration is needed before making pensions decisions
The uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic means it is a crucial time for employers to support the financial wellbeing of staff. When it comes to concerns about pensions, employers should encourage staff not to panic and make rushed decisions without understanding all of the facts.For employees with defined ...
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OpinionChristopher Nuttall: Should the burden of pensions move to the employee?
Employers are familiar with the automatic-enrolment duties that oblige them to put certain staff into a pension scheme and contribute towards it. These duties began in 2012. But what comes next?The majority of schemes used in the private sector are defined contribution (DC) schemes in which the contributions, together with ...
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OpinionSam Smethers: Is pay transparency radical?
Sometimes the simple and obvious thing can still be perceived as radical. When it comes to pay transparency, the idea that we might find out what our colleagues are earning is, at one level, radical because pay secrecy is the norm in most workplaces and talking about pay is taboo. ...
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OpinionJames Poyser: Calls for employment rights class action mount
The IR35 reforms were postponed on 17 March 2020 as part of an exceptional Covid-19 £330 billion package of financial help announced by the government.Within 12 hours of the announcement, companies started to make a u-turn on blanket bans and inside IR35 decisions. Asda, BAE Systems and Marsh and McLennan ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Are you being supported through the Covid-19 pandemic?
How are you? I’m sure that is a question you have asked others on an almost daily basis during the ongoing pandemic; but how many times have you asked it of yourselves?Inevitably, there has been a great deal of focus over the past few weeks on how organisations are treating ...
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OpinionAndrew Osborne and Naomi Hanrahan-Soar: Government provides details on points-based immigration system
The Government released a policy statement on 19 February 2020, giving an outline of its plans for a points-based immigration system for highly skilled and skilled workers. The first phase of this will open in the autumn, with applicants being granted visas starting from 1 January 2021, and will apply ...
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OpinionSteven Wibberley: There is no time limit on support needed for bereavement
Bereavement is one of the most devastating things any of us will ever go through. For many employers, it can be difficult to know how to respond when an employee is bereaved, and how to ensure that the impact on both the individual and the organisation is minimised.Providing paid bereavement ...
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OpinionAnn Chalmers: Supporting bereaved employees to return to the workplace
Bereavement is one of the most common factors impacting employees’ performance at work. When events feel out of control, a supportive workplace can be an important source of structure and normality.However, the fear of returning to work and facing colleagues and a loss of confidence are not uncommon. Many bereaved ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Supporting employees through times of uncertainty
The Coronavirus has plunged businesses into uncertainty and there are reports that millions of jobs could be lost globally as a result of the pandemic. As well as suddenly dealing with financial worries, individuals are concerned about their loved ones getting the virus or contracting it themselves.Many businesses will not ...
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OpinionRaminder Grewal: Occupational health support for an isolated workforce
This month, our offices expanded. From a handful of central locations in our big cities, we have spread to hundreds of small offices around the UK, in bedrooms, empty lofts and on converted kitchen tables. For many, this means comfortable sweatshirts in place of suits and transforming an hour-long commute ...
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OpinionCharlie Barnes: Risks with national minimum wage reforms
On 11 February, the government announced a number of changes to national minimum wage legislation, due to take effect from 6 April 2020. Broadly, these are welcome and should help employers overcome the difficulties they have experienced in complying. However, risks do remain for employers.Naming and shamingOf most significance is ...
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OpinionChrista Sedlatschek: Why employee mental wellbeing is good for business
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that mental health is ‘a complete state of wellbeing’; people with good mental health are capable, resilient, productive and have good social support.Work is good for us in many ways: it gives us structure, purpose and a sense of identity, all of which promote ...
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OpinionDr Anne de Bono: Occupational health is key to helping employees return to work
Occupational medicine, the clinical specialty which evaluates the two-way relationship between health and work, is key to support the health and wellbeing of employees.Historically, occupational doctors focused on diseases caused by work; for example, miners’ lung conditions, and bladder cancer among tyre manufacturers. These problems have dramatically decreased, at least ...
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OpinionCarl Laidler: Employee health and wellbeing is pivotal to business sustainability
It has been reported that more active management of sick leave could save the UK economy £56 billion each year in lost time and productivity. Indeed, the usual symptoms of illness, including feeling burnt out and disengaged, massively impact productivity levels.However, it is not just the individual who is less ...
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OpinionCoronavirus: The view from the market
As the world of work adapts to a new normal, Employee Benefits has collected thought leadership, advice and commentary from across the market, to help readers make sense of the challenges ahead.Maintaining wellbeingAveril Leimon, executive coach at White Water Group: "Self care is vital; this is not the time to ...
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OpinionMartin Perry: Working from home - learning from the sporting elite
At the moment, as Coronavirus sends more and more of the workforce into isolation, everyone is finding they need to adapt to new circumstances; psychologically, that can be demanding. In the sporting industry, for example, we have seen elite sportspeople required to adapt as matches are played behind closed doors, ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Living through unsettling times
What a difference a week makes. When I wrote about the preparations UK organisations were making for staff to work remotely just a week ago, I don’t think I really expected it to become a reality as quickly as it has done.We are currently living through uncertain and unsettling times. ...