Opinion – Page 42
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OpinionKevin Jones: When should voluntary overtime be accounted for in holiday pay?
Under the Working Time Directive, all employees have the right to a minimum of four weeks paid annual leave. In other words, staff must receive their normal pay while on holiday.However, in June 2019, the N Flowers and others v East of England Ambulance Trust case, heard at the Court ...
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OpinionStephen Bevan: How can employers have a tangible impact on employee health?
Does an employer offer health benefits to its employees because it wants to improve their health, or because it wants to attract, motivate and retain talent? The answer can, quite legitimately, be ‘both’, of course.Among those organisations that do offer health benefits, do they know how many employees take them ...
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OpinionJames Rudoni: Focus on the mental health of male employees
In 2018, men accounted for three-quarters of the people who took their own lives in the UK, according to Suicides in the UK: 2018 registrations, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in September 2019.These statistics highlight the need for increased awareness and understanding of mental ill-health, particularly in ...
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OpinionBlair Adams and Kezia Daley: Brexit and the loss of EU nationals
Employers with European Union (EU) nationals in their workforce have a vested interest in actively helping and encouraging them to apply for settled status before 31 October 2019, in case free movement ends on that date in a no-deal Brexit scenario.EU nationals currently have two options to stay in the ...
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OpinionCatherine Garrod: Using engagement technology to promote inclusion
Our vision at Sky UK is to be the industry leader in the UK and Ireland for inclusion, both on-screen and behind the scenes. We want our people to value diversity, be themselves and deliver the best work of their lives.A couple of years ago, we opened up a conversation ...
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OpinionHelen Smith: How to look after the needs of an age-diverse workforce
It is no secret that employers that prioritise employee wellbeing and look after their staff well are more likely to reap rewards. Not only does the workforce benefit from a better working experience and healthier lives, but the business can also attract better talent, build loyalty and improve motivation and ...
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OpinionDimple Agarwal: Harnessing the power of difference
When was the last time someone really made you see things differently?It is something we encourage at Deloitte, where valuing difference and creating a diverse, inclusive culture is at the very heart of our business.One powerful initiative we run is inviting a cross-section of our people, including graduates, women and ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Supporting staff through menopause
At the Labour party conference earlier this week, Dawn Butler, the shadow women and equalities minister, announced plans to require all organisations with more than 250 employees to introduce a menopause workplace policy.Under these measures, employers would be required to make various provision: allowing staff to work flexibly if needed, ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Christmas rewards can recognise the year's achievements
March 2015 research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Show me the money: The behavioural science of reward, found that money can help incentivise employee behaviour in a variety of ways. For example, when promised money for a later task, people start to perform intermediate tasks better, ...
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OpinionCharlotte Lockhart: A four-day week is the productivity answer we have been waiting for
Significant technological improvements, the rise of the internet and social media has formed a hyper-connected world, with innovation disintermediating established organisations and industries. Surprisingly, there has not been a corresponding advance in overall productivity.In 2018, we made a bold decision to test our assumptions around productivity with a landmark four-day ...
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OpinionTeresa Boughey: Moving forward from uncomfortable truths about gender pay
Another year of gender pay reporting for organisations with more than 250 people has continued to provide opportunities for organisations to really take stock and measure their progress on diversity and inclusion.For some, the initial widening of the gap is likely to be unsurprising. As with many other things, when ...
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OpinionDr Gail Kinman: Downtime is essential for employee health and productivity
People differ in the extent to which they prefer their work and personal life to be integrated or separated, but some downtime is always essential for continued health and productivity. Employers have a key role to play in helping staff to switch off from work, both mentally and physically.Evidence that ...
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OpinionMichael Spiers: Financial wellbeing is not about winning the lottery
Dominating the front pages one week in August was the story of an Amazon worker who scooped a lottery win of £10,000 per month for the next 30 years; this is the so-called Set For Life prize, providing financial certainty and security that most can only dream about. Indeed, it ...
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OpinionBoma Adoki and Melanie Shone: Major change to the UK tax regime for contractors
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is continuing its quest to ensure that individuals who work like employees pay tax like employees, even when working via a personal service company (PSC). However, it has had mixed success recently, as a number of its determinations have been overturned in the Tax Tribunal.Set ...
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OpinionMichael Royce: How can employers help staff improve financial capability?
Employers play an increasingly important role in supporting the financial wellbeing of their people, both through the success of pensions auto-enrolment and by providing schemes such as season ticket loans and childcare vouchers.Figures from Neyber’s The DNA of financial wellbeing report, published in May 2016, estimate that money worries cost ...
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OpinionRachel Clift: How to support employees with money worries
We are currently living in uncertain times, with austerity and the constant pressure of cost saving taking its toll.UK household debt has hit a record high at £428 billion, according to figures published in January 2019 by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). With an average total debt per household of ...
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OpinionMartin Parish: Money under the mattress - why support financial wellbeing
Although stashing money under the mattress is, we hope, a thing of the past, the legacy of bad money management continues. The Money Advice Service (MAS) estimates that four in 10 people in the UK have poor financial capability, meaning they cannot manage their money day-to-day, nor handle periods of ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Help staff avoid becoming a statistic
Tuesday 10 September marked this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day. According to statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published just a week earlier, there were 6,507 suicides in the UK during 2018; significantly up on the previous year, and the first increase since 2013.In a trend that has ...
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OpinionBlair Adams: Is the UK a step closer to ethnicity pay gap reporting?
The government consultation on ethnicity pay gap reporting by organisations with 250 or more employees closed in January 2019, and no outcomes or conclusions have yet been published.However, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) published its first report on ethnicity pay gaps, Ethnicity pay gaps in Great Britain 2018, on ...
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OpinionLouise Newman: How to prevent employee burnout
Employee burnout is something that many organisations have to handle. With advancements in technology, it is all too easy or tempting to access work any time, any place and anywhere.Far from this being something to encourage, it is the responsibility of employers to not overlook the importance of quality downtime ...