Opinion – Page 62
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OpinionRosalind Connor: What the British Airways pensions case means for trustees and employers
The decision in the case of British Airways vs Airways Pension Scheme Trustee was handed down on 19 May 2017. The case, as the judge remarked, has been a lengthy one, and the appeal underway means that the case may well run for many more years. The case is the ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Celebrating the value of benefits
What’s the quirkiest benefit you offer to your employees? Maybe you allow them to bring their pets to work, provide free drinks on a Friday or offer some unusual staff outings or trips?Earlier this week, Glassdoor published details of 20 organisations on the UK’s Top Quirky Employee Perks and Benefits ...
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OpinionPatrick Thomson: Effectively managing age diversity will benefit employers and staff
The number of older people in society is growing; more people are living longer, which means more people are working longer.As the workforce ages, mixed-aged teams will become an increasing part of the day-to-day reality of many businesses. Older workers bring very many valuable benefits, and like staff of any ...
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OpinionCrowley Woodford: Take stock of benefits strategies in light of upcoming changes
Employee benefit offerings come in all shapes and sizes. At one end of the spectrum, there are the traditional employee benefits such as contributions to an employee's pension scheme, childcare vouchers, and subsidised gym membership, and at the other end there are wine clubs, unlimited holiday allowances, and free-bacon Thursdays.With ...
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OpinionSarah Miller: Key considerations for a pensions change project
There are three questions employers should ask before embarking on a pensions change project. First, they should question whether they can make the change. Employment contracts should be checked. If the change would breach the contract it will need varying. If the contract does not permit variations,the employer might need ...
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OpinionJoe Aiston and Michael Chattle: Holiday pay claims decision upheld by the EAT
The law surrounding the calculation of holiday pay has seen a string of important cases recently; however this is an area of employment law where there is still a certain level of uncertainty for employers. An Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) decision earlier this month (May 2017) has provided some small ...
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OpinionColin Jackson: Payroll – do it yourself or outsource?
Paying staff accurately and on time every time requires a deep understanding of complex legislation and that, in turn, requires investment. For many organisations, the questions are: should that investment be in-house or is it cost-beneficial to outsource? Should all processes be outsourced or just some of them?Before an employer ...
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OpinionStephen Bevan: Workforce health as a business asset?
The health and work landscape in the UK is changing rapidly. Compared with a decade ago, more employers have come to recognise that they need to provide support for employees who experience poor health. This has had a number of consequences.First, what gets defined as a health issue has undergone ...
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OpinionDavid Haigh: Low-cost financial education interventions can deliver a high return on investment
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reported in its January 2017 Financial wellbeing: the employee view research with Close Brothers Asset Management, that money worries have affected the ability of one in four employees to do their job. It found that people at all wage levels can be ...
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OpinionAdam Kingl: Rethinking reward for generation Y
One thing is for certain: employees are a lot less loyal than they used to be. Generation Y in particular, our youngest employees in their twenties and early thirties, seem to jump from employer to employer with an almost frightening rapidity. Make no mistake either, this is not just a ...
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OpinionHannah Pettitt: Mental health first aid support at Transport for London
Over the past few years, I have become interested and passionate about mental health and wellbeing, which has grown from personal experience. In 2015, I became a mental health first aider with my training funded by my employer, Transport for London. It considers the health and wellbeing of its employees ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: On a winning streak
This week, we were absolutely thrilled when Employee Benefits was named Pensions and Benefits Publication of the Year at the Willis Towers Watson Awards 2017.This is the third consecutive year that we have won this title and, every year, it has meant a great deal to us, not least because ...
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OpinionEmma Mamo: Staff should feel able to talk openly about mental health
Every suicide is a tragedy. The causes of suicide are many and complex and vary from person to person. We know that often people struggle in silence and find it difficult to know how to ask for help.Figures from the Office for National Statistics, published in 2014, show that male ...
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OpinionLouise Ward: Conversation can break down barriers around suicide and mental health
Over the last 40 years, we have seen a step change in the safety performance of workplaces in Britain. There have been improvements in workplace health as well, however, the issue of mental health remains a real challenge. One in six workers in the UK are suffering from stress, anxiety ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Pensions allowance controversy continues
The government’s planned reduction of the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) from £10,000 to £4,000 has always been a somewhat controversial move.It hit the headlines again earlier this week when the government confirmed that it would delay legislating for the reduction to the MPAA after the clauses that would legislate ...
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OpinionStephen Ravenscroft: Gender pay gap reporting considerations for multinational employers
The landscape for gender pay gap reporting is shifting fast, and multinational organisations face a maze of obligations in the different countries in which they operate. This poses practical and operational challenges.Approaches to pay gap reporting vary vastly between countries; thresholds for employee numbers required to trigger reporting requirements differ, ...
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OpinionFerdinand Lovett: Workplace pensions and the gig economy
Classifying an individual as a worker instead of a self-employed contractor, as in the recent Uber and Citysprint tribunal cases, really matters from a pensions perspective.This is because the definition of 'worker' in the pensions auto-enrolment legislation is almost identical to the one used in employment rights legislation, with little ...
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OpinionAndy Melia: Employee volunteering has benefits beyond corporate social responsibility
Employee volunteering gives staff the opportunity to connect with a community, build their knowledge of the needs and challenges in society and deliver value through sharing skills and expertise. This can help to generate trust in the business and help staff to feel more involved in the towns, cities or ...
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OpinionLouise Lawrence: Excel worker-status ruling adds to growing body of gig economy case law
Boxer v Excel follows a string of other similar rulings in deciding that an individual who was engaged by a gig economy organisation as a self-employed contractor was, in fact, a worker and therefore entitled to holiday pay.The case emphasises again that the Employment Tribunal will look beyond what is ...
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OpinionMark Smith: Inequalities in survivors' pension rights
The course of true love never did run smooth and nor, it seems, does the law on the pension rights of survivors. Three recent cases show the limits of how far the courts will go in filling the gaps left by Parliament as it struggles to keep up with the ...