Opinion – Page 70
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OpinionStephen Barraclough: Ergonomics can help employees thrive
Progressive employers will give as much thought to factors within an office environment that enable individuals to be the best they can be as they will to acquiring the best building on the best possible terms. Why? Because even the most high-tech or contemporary environment will be sterile in terms ...
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OpinionClive Lewis: Pension changes present an opportunity for employers to engage staff
Many employees are unconcerned about the value of their pension scheme, if they have a scheme at all, until they are close to retirement. Indeed, many employees are hard pressed to specify the benefits their workplace pension scheme offers.Two things are changing this situation. First, changes to the rules regarding ...
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OpinionDr Penny Simpson: Consider key elements for effective gamification design
Gamification is ‘the use of game design elements in non-game contexts’ (From game design elements to gamefulness: defining gamification, Deterding et al., 2011). By drawing upon game design elements, mechanics and techniques, organisations hope to engender, in work, the type of experience that we find motivating, engaging and fun when ...
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OpinionLovewell's Logic: How far should employers go in monitoring staff?
How happy would you feel if you knew your employer was watching every little move you made?If you’re anything like me, I’d imagine the answer would be not very. That’s not because I’m ever trying to get away with spending the day internet shopping or trying to do as little ...
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OpinionSusie Logan: Are you focusing on the right things?
2015 was a year of great change. There is no doubt about it, the new pension freedoms have given people unprecedented flexibility when it comes to deciding what to do with their retirement savings.As we look forward to 2016, we need to make sure we offer our employees the right ...
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OpinionLovewell's Logic: Are we heading for the death of email?
Happy New Year!Earlier this week, I read an interesting article exploring whether 2016 will finally see the end of the office email.The idea of banning email for work has been floating around for a few years now, but several organisations have now begun to bite the bullet and move to ...
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OpinionCaroline Harwood: An own goal on employee benefit trusts?
The ‘Rangers’ or ‘Big Tax’ case concerns the establishment of an employee benefit trust (EBT) in 2001 by the Murray Group, then owners of Rangers Football Club. Sub-trusts were established for the benefit of players, other employees, and their families. Sub-trust funds were then lent to relevant employees.HM Revenue and ...
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OpinionSally Brett: Build on the basics to bridge the gap
In July 2015, David Cameron pledged to end the gender pay gap in one generation by forcing large organisations to publish information about the difference between the average earnings of male and female workers.The TUC (Trades Union Congress) wants the government to go further in its legislation, but there is ...
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OpinionDenise Keating: How the gender pay gap was formed
It is important to start with acknowledging that pay inequality is rarely due to women and men in the same role being paid differently. A huge amount is due to the dominance of men in more senior (and higher-paid) positions.Other causes include women being more likely to work part time ...
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Opinion
3 Sponsor's comment - Switch on to financial wellbeing
Many employees struggle to understand various financial issues that may relate to them and often fail to understand the many benefits on offer in the workplace. I believe employers can help to improve an employee’s financial wellbeing by providing them with the knowledge needed to make informed financial decisions, so ...
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OpinionColin Tourick: Cost efficiency and green credentials among key drivers of change in company car schemes
The biggest driver of change has been the tax system. Benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax is based on the car’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the government cranks up the BIK tax rate every year. This encourages employees to choose cars emitting ever-lower levels of CO2, particularly diesels.Many employers now wish to ...
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OpinionDavid Webb: Absence management policies should provide clarity
Keeping accurate records of staff absence and effectively managing those absences are essential in running a successful organisation.A small business should, as a minimum, log when individual staff are off ill or absent for an unauthorised reason, for example, because of an unforeseen family caring responsibility.A larger employer should be ...
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OpinionStuart Scullion: Employers need to mitigate the impact of the insurance premium tax rise
The Budget’s ‘unrealistic and unacceptable’ increase in insurance premium tax (IPT) could represent the final straw for some employers that may now cancel their cover.While I think many of us expected there to be an increase in the Budget, we are both surprised and disappointed at the size and scale ...
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OpinionLovewell's Logic: Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
As 2015 draws to a close and attention inevitably turns to what lies ahead in 2016, it can be easy to forget to take a minute to stop and reflect on the year we’ll soon be leaving behind.Yet, when life is rushing past at what can feel like a million ...
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OpinionBrian Dow: Wellbeing plans can help managers make effective changes
Because mental illness affects people in very different ways, there is no one size fits all when it comes to supporting people at work.As an employer myself overseeing a large team, there are a number of things I have done that anyone could do, which don’t cost anything. It could ...
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OpinionEthel Maldonado: Volunteering brings CSR policies to life
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies too often sit on a website, poorly communicated, rarely visited and even more rarely understood by employees. So what can really bring them to life?Employee volunteering is the most powerful mechanism that we come across at Business in the Community. For example, 80% of employees ...
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OpinionDr Hugh Cook: The outcomes and complexities of flexible benefits schemes
Theoretically, the motivation for employers to offer flexible benefits schemes stems from their need to attract employees and reduce labour turnover. Both are key measures of labour market performance, which ought to be improved by offering benefits that are attractive to a wider range of workers. Given the increasing demographic ...
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OpinionJackie Wells: Engage all generations of a workforce in making informed pensions decisions
The world of pensions has seen enormous change over recent years. Thanks to auto-enrolment, millions more are now saving for their retirement in a workplace pension scheme. And following the radical pension reforms announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the Budget 2014, savers now have more choice than ever before ...
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OpinionLouise's Lowdown: How long until Equal Pay Day moves off the calendar?
Pay has featured heavily in the news over the last couple of months. On 25 October the government revealed plans to extend its gender pay gap reporting requirements to large public sector employers and to include information about bonuses; during Living Wage Week on 1-7 November, the Living Wage Foundation ...
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OpinionJohn Neal: Encourage physical and mental winter exercise
As the leaves begin to turn, the last of the outdoor fitness training sessions disappear alongside daylight.It is much easier to leave an exercise programme for staff until the New Year begins, when there is ahint of a spring ahead and perhapsfor some the motivation of a marathon or a ...