Opinion – Page 54
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OpinionRhiannon Jenkins: What should employers do when employees' annual leave plans are interrupted by sickness?
With summer fast approaching, many employees will already have organised their holidays and annual leave. Often, however, the best laid plans go awry. How should employers deal with requests from employees to cancel their pre-booked annual leave or retake holidays that have been interrupted by sickness?The leading case in this ...
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OpinionSir Cary Cooper: Employee engagement and wellbeing at work
Employee engagement has been the buzzword of the last 15 years, as HR has been looking for the magic bullet that will transform British businesses in terms of their poor productivity performance and high levels of workplace stress.The problem is that, over this period, we have scarcely moved on the ...
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OpinionPaula Rome: What do employers need to take stock of for employee benefits in the next year?
One of the continuing areas of concern for employers is employee retention, increasing productivity and reducing absence. The concentration on wellness and how benefits can be used to assist with these concerns will be on employers’ minds. As well as the traditional benefits, such as employee assistance programmes (EAPs), private ...
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OpinionKsenia Zheltoukhova: What (new) challenges do organisations face when engaging millennials?
While academic research frequently dispels the myth of generational differences at work, there is an appreciation that the role of employment changes across the different stages of our lives. As some 'millennials', who first entered the workplace two decades ago, are reaching their 40s, employers would be wise to revisit ...
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OpinionSarah Robson: Why creating a benefits brand helps employee engagement
In today’s world, brand is everything. It can make the difference between an individual really buying into what the brand stands for or simply looking the other way. So while many organisations launch their employee benefits under their corporate identity, there are those which prefer to create a separate brand ...
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OpinionDuncan Brown: Remind me again, why do we measure employee engagement?
Employee engagement is not an ideal concept. There are dozens of definitions, confusion and controversy as to its origins and meaning, and considerable hype and exaggerated claims as to its impact. Studies show that far more HR departments simply survey it rather than making any policy changes to raise it.So ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: It's farewell from me (for now)
This week’s blog is a bit of a different one for me as it will be my last – for some time at least. From next week, I will be heading off on maternity leave to start a new chapter in my life.I think it’s fair to say that the ...
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OpinionHina Belitz: What employers need to know about settlement agreements
When employers are faced with potential claims from their employees it is quite common for them to enter into settlement agreements to resolve the dispute. However, not every claim can be resolved in this way. Some can only be settled through The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), by using ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Mind the (contribution) gap
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), published earlier this week, showed that membership of workplace pensions has reached record levels since the launch of auto-enrolment; just under three-quarters (73%) of employees contributed to a workplace pension in 2017, compared to less than 47% in 2012.According to the ONS’ ...
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OpinionDuncan Young: How can employers help staff achieve good health?
Good health is not simply the absence of disease. This becomes apparent when a holistic approach to health and wellbeing is taken, which includes a range of elements that help people to thrive.Although good health is specific to each person, employers can help on the journey to increased wellbeing. Employees ...
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OpinionMichael Rose: How employers can create an integrated reward strategy to support business goals
When I think about an integrated reward strategy, the first thing that comes to mind is the differences between the parts of reward. They all cost money but they do different things. So, for example, death-in-service benefits do something very different and carry different messages to a cash incentive plan. ...
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OpinionJoanna Mason and Anna Henderson: What is next on the to-do list for gender pay gap reporting?
Now that the dust has settled on the first gender pay gap reporting deadline, HR professionals could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief that the storm has passed, hopefully with little damage. Certainly, the thousands who adopted the tactic of waiting until the last minute to publish may ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: Why group risk protection benefits tick all the boxes
Given that the government is drawing back, no one should be without a way to protect their own financial stability and that of their family, especially because according to the Office for National Statistics' (ONS’) Quarterly sector accounts, UK: October to December 2017, published in xx the UK household’s savings ...
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OpinionChris Morgan: Key themes for employers in 2018
Every year reinsurer Swiss Re publishes a report on the group protection market, Group watch. On the face of it, more interesting to industry insiders rather than employers, there are a couple of key themes which may be of interest to employers when considering future changes to their benefit programmes.Excepted ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Can money buy happiness?
Can money buy happiness? This is a familiar question, having oft been debated over the years. Many people's natural response is likely to be ‘yes’, as thoughts of their next holiday, larger house or new car spring to mind. But would this response always be the same, following some time ...
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OpinionNick Campbell: Employers must ensure reward is non-discriminatory
The world of work has changed drastically over the past decade and now, more than ever, there is an increased spotlight on the importance of reward and recognition.The benefits for rewarding good service are clear; it can boost morale, improve productivity and, ultimately, have a positive impact on a business' ...
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OpinionSusan Ball: Employers need to review optional remuneration arrangements now
Many employers remain unaware of the change in rules covering flexible benefits and salary sacrifice, or cash alternative arrangements from 6 April 2017. With many questions unanswered, correct filing of 2017-2018 P11Ds is going to be difficult.Under the new rules, where a benefit is selected, a tax and national insurance ...
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OpinionKaren Holden: What should employers consider when distinguishing self-employed workers?
Recent media attention has raised the question: 'Are you an employee or genuinely a self-employed contractor?' BBC presenter Christa Ackroyd was held liable for tax in excess of £400,000 because the courts considered her to be an employee of the BBC, despite her services being paid through a separate limited ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Should pay be enhanced for shared parental leave?
On Wednesday (11 April), the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that paying a male employee on shared parental leave a different rate of pay to a female employee on maternity leave does not amount to sex discrimination.This followed a previous Employment Tribunal decision, which found that a male employee, Madasar ...
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OpinionRita Trehan: How the gender pay gap harms engagement and productivity
In spite of the dedication and work of many, the majority of medium-sized and large organisations pay higher wage rates to men than women. That was the conclusion drawn from The Gender Pay Gap briefing paper, published by the House of Commons in April 2018, which found that at 78% ...