Opinion – Page 68
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OpinionShaun Davis: Royal Mail puts focus on musculoskeletal support and prevention
As we know, all employers have a duty of care to protect their employees from developing musculoskeletal disorders due to their work. Royal Mail takes this responsibility very seriously and places the safety, health and wellbeing of its people as the highest priority.Collecting, sorting, distributing and delivering letters and parcels ...
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OpinionZoe Casey: Looking after Rightmove's most valuable asset
The British property obsession has made Rightmove one of the UK’s top 10 busiest websites, alongside brands such as Google and Amazon. We are proud to be the UK’s number-one property website, and our achievements are not just the result of our teams working incredibly hard; they are also the ...
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OpinionEmma Mamo: Making workplace wellbeing a priority
Creating mentally healthy workplaces has never been more important. Our latest YouGov poll in 2014 revealed over half of workers (56%) found their work very or fairly stressful. Given this high prevalence of workplace stress, mental health at work is an issue too big to ignore.Putting in place initiatives to ...
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OpinionKathryn Clapp: Childcare vouchers may be discontinued during maternity leave
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently raised doubts on HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) guidance on the use of childcare vouchers while on maternity leave in the case of Peninsula Business Services v Donaldson. Current guidance is that vouchers should be maintained if provided by way of salary sacrifice ...
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OpinionJane Smith: How to approach an employee with an eating disorder
In order to help someone with an eating disorder, you need to have spotted the signs, understand something of the nature of eating disorders and why someone develops one.Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder are the three main eating disorders. There is still a lot of stigma, judgement ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Should enhanced leave be extended to all staff?
How far should employers go in supporting employees’ circumstances outside of the workplace?Earlier this week, employee engagement firm Reward Gateway revealed that it is introducing unlimited fully paid leave globally for parents who are primary carers during the first year after the birth or adoption of a child.Permitting staff such ...
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OpinionGeorge Saridakis: Managing employees in times of crises
Firms and workers operate, directly or indirectly, in a global economic environment that generates significant opportunities. Those opportunities are accompanied by risks, which can arise from the susceptibility to crises of interconnected economies.Economic turmoil can clearly threaten the growth and survival prospects of firms, and recessionary pressures can force organisations ...
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OpinionKamel Mellahi: Involve employees in CSR communication
When it comes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, employers should complement top-down communication with bottom-up communication.The communication strategy should reflect employee engagement and participation in CSR initiatives. Employers should encourage their employees to contribute to the CSR strategy, as well as share experiences.Employers must be very straightforward and honest ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: How effective is the national living wage?
The national living wage was back in the headlines this week, when restaurant chain Zizzi was reported to have reviewed how tips are distributed to waiting staff and to have cut back on the choice of free meals offered to employees.Even before the national living wage came into effect earlier ...
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OpinionChris Rowley: Staff involvement with benefits will increase engagement
The subject of employee motivation programmes in the workplace, specifically whether it is important to garner staff opinion when putting programmes in place, remains important and topical. The questions it raises include: should employers involve staff in the design and roll-out of programmes? Would this have an effect on engagement ...
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OpinionEvan Davidge: How to engage a multi-generational workforce with benefits
There are several different ways of cutting a multi-generational workforce but most research shows that there are five distinct age segments, ranging from traditionalists (1928-1944) to generation Zs (1995+). A lot has been written about the wants and needs of different generations in terms of how they perceive work and ...
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OpinionKatherine Wilson: Employers cannot afford to ignore working carers
Three million people in the UK combine working with caring for a disabled person, someone seriously ill or an older loved one, according to the 2011 census. Without the right support, the stress and pressure of juggling work and care can force people to leave their jobs.People aged between 40 ...
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OpinionDr Bridget Juniper: Sleep management schemes can boost productivity and wellbeing
Ask any hard-pressed employee how they are genuinely feeling and there is an 80% chance they will tell you they are tired and never seem able to catch up on their sleep. One-third of our life is taken up by sleeping and all the evidence suggests getting enough of it ...
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OpinionDavid Sinclair: Employers need to consider pick and mix reward strategies
Unless employers reconsider their workforce planning in the light of population ageing, they will face substantial personnel and skills shortages in future years. There are 9.2 million workers in the UK over the age of 50, many of whom will leave work permanently over the next 15 years, taking their ...
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OpinionGwyneth Williams: The great gender divide
In February, the government published its draft gender pay gap regulations, expected to come into force in October 2016. The gender pay gap is hardly a new phenomenon (the Equal Pay Act was introduced over 45 years ago in 1970), nor has the subject been short of publicity in recent ...
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OpinionNeil Emery: EAT rules holiday pay calculations should include commission
In the case of Lock v British Gas Trading, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that an employee’s holiday pay should include an element in respect of commission.Lock was an energy trader for British Gas Trading, earning commission on the sales he generated, equating to around 60% of his ...
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OpinionMichelle Cracknell: A new approach is required to help people plan for retirement
The pension landscape has undertaken a massive rebuild in order to be sustainable in our ageing society. The topping-out ceremony was the pension freedoms introduced from April 2015. Now, we need to make the new pensions infrastructure habitable for members so they can properly plan for retirement, making informed choices ...
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OpinionLovewell's logic: Success deserves to be celebrated
One of the things I love most about my role – and there are many – is judging the Employee Benefits Awards each year. One of the reasons I became a journalist is that I’m intrinsically curious and the whole judging process presents a real insight into what employers are ...
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OpinionEmma Hart: Sport teaches motivation and teamwork
As children, we are encouraged to take part in physical activities, through which we learn motivation, determination and teamwork among a wide range of other positive skills. Parents are not always trying to create the next Chris Hoy or Steve Redgrave, but rather trying to encourage us to learn from ...
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OpinionKatherine Bond: Rewards derive from good performance
The worlds of high-performance sport and business are both obsessed with results, and there is often great reward that comes with producing great results.For the Olympic athlete, the potential reward of an Olympic medal is a huge motivator and gives some interesting insights into human motivation and rewards.Potential Olympians choose ...