All articles by Rebecca Patton – Page 4
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Article
Long-service awards fit for a Queen
Long-service awards are nearly always welcomed by employees and are a nice way for employers to show their appreciation for staff loyalty.Most often these gifts come in the form of gift vouchers or perhaps a watch, so there are few employees who would expect a llama waiting for them after ...
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Article
FSA publishes incentive guidance
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published final guidance to help financial organisations, such as banks, building societies, insurers and investment firms, avoid mis-selling due to incentive schemes.This includes guidance on managing the risks and governance of incentive schemes, as well as guidance on the features of incentive schemes that ...
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Article
Goldman Sachs will not delay bonuses
Goldman Sachs will pay deferred bonuses to its UK employees before April 2013.The bank had been considering giving staff deferred bonuses from 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the form of shares after April 2013 when the top rate of tax will be lowered from 50% to 45%.Its board met on ...
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Article
Chaucer hosts wellness week
EXCLUSIVE: Lloyds of London insurer Chaucer has launched a wellness week as part of its employee engagement strategy for 2013.The five-day event, which started on 14 January, is being run for 700 employees across the organisation’s Kent and London offices.Healthy breakfasts are on offer in staff cafeteria as well as ...
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Article
Poor communication can impact engagement
Poor internal communication is most detrimental to employee engagement, according to research by Jelf Employee Benefits.Its research, which surveyed 162 employers, found that 30% said internal communication was most detrimental to engagement, while 27% felt poor pay and benefits packages have a negative impact on employee engagement.It also found that ...
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Article
Jelf appoints auto-enrolment consultant
Jelf Employee Benefits has appointed Caroline Burnham auto-enrolment consultant.Burnham will project manage employers in the run up to their staging date and ensure employers are prepared for their new duties.She will also be the lead on the development and implementation of the organisation’s auto-enrolment software, AE Manager.Alan Milward, corporate benefits ...
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Article
Taking a break from work
Something for the weekend…Employers are always looking for the next big thing to help them recruit, engage and retain the best talent. So could giving staff time during the working day to book a holiday be the next big craze inbenefits?Well, it would seem that some employees are already enjoying ...
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Article
Employers consider new benefits to engage staff
In 2013, 48% of respondents will consider new health and wellbeing initiatives to retain, engage and reward employees, according to research by Jelf Employee Benefits.The research, which surveyed 162 employers, also found that 54% of respondents felt there was a lack of choice in terms of competition from insurers and ...
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Article
FTSE 350 pension scheme deficits static in 2012
Accounting deficits for FTSE 350 organisations’ defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in the UK showed little increase in 2012, according to research by Mercer.Its Pension risk survey found that the estimated deficit for DB schemes stood at £62 billion at 31 December 2012, compared to a deficit figure of £61 ...
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Article
Aramark launches healthy-eating campaign
Aramark, a food service business covering employee restaurants, has launched a healthy-eating campaign for employees.Its Eat Yourself Healthy campaign enables employer customers to provide employees with special offers and meal deals on healthy food in the workplace.The scheme will run in Aramark’s participating business and industry, education, defence and healthcare ...
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Article
Chamber of Shipping completes pension buy-in
The trustees of the UK Chamber of Shipping’s defined benefit (DB) pension plan have concluded a buy-in arrangement for the scheme.The transaction covers £40 million of pension liabilities, which represent all of the plan’s current pensioner members.The UK Chamber of Shipping is the trade association for the UK shipping industry ...
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Article
Pension allowance changes revive interest in DB plans
George Osborne announced on 5 December that the annual pension allowance on which people receive tax relief will be cut from £50,000 to £40,000 and the lifetime allowance will fall from £1.5 million to £1.25 million from 6 April 2014.Jackie Holmes, senior consultant at Towers Watson, said: “Previously, the allowance’s ...
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Article
Tax incentives for shareholder scheme announced
Chancellor George Osborne announced in his Autumn Statement that the exemption will come into effect from April 2013.He also said the government would consider options to reduce income tax and national insurance liabilities when employee shareholders receive the shares.Chris Blundell, tax partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, said: “I think the ...
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Article
Office of Tax Simplification to review benefits
Chancellor George Osborne said in his Autumn Statement that the review would include “an initial scoping exercise to identify which areas are most complex for taxpayers”.Also, OTS recommendations on approved employee share schemes were confirmed in draft legislation published on 11 December.These include changes to the enterprise management incentive (EMI) ...
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Article
Cigna extends medical plan range
Cigna UK Healthcare Benefits has launched an extended medical plan range called HealthCare Choices.Its range now includes a condition-specific plan, Essential Health, which is designed for employers looking to deal with absence or productivity concerns, and the Your Health plan that allows employers to balance reward strategy with budget control ...
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Article
Labour plans pension cap to fund jobs
Labour has proposed to cap pensions tax relief at 20% for those earning over £150,000 a year in order to fund a job guarantee programme for the unemployed.Ed Balls, Labour shadow chancellor, outlined the party’s plans in an article for PoliticsHome. These are aimed at guaranteeing a minimum wage job ...
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Article
Chinese military curbs indulgence
Something for the weekend…At a time when money is tight, some employers will be looking at their employee benefits as a possible area where they could save money. It would seem the Chinese military is no different.The Central Military Commission (CMC) in China has published a list of regulations for ...
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Opinion
Katharine Moxham: New opportunities for the group risk market
Auto-enrolment, the response to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Health at work - An independent review of sickness absence, published in November 2011, the Treasury’s Sergeant Review of Simple Financial Products, published in July 2012, and the introduction of universal credit will give the group risk market unprecedented ...
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Article
Millions of workers do not receive benefits
Nearly 30% of the UK workforce does not receive any employee benefits, according to research by Canada Life Group.It found that nine million workers are not given any benefits by their employers. Women (32%) are more likely not to receive any benefits, compared to 27% of men.The research also found ...
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VideoUKTV switches staff on to value of benefits
When a staff survey revealed widespread knowledge gaps about its employee benefits package, UKTV took the opportunity to communicate the real value of its perks.Its communication strategy included a two-day benefits and wellbeing event last October, which focused on raising awareness about UKTV’s core benefits, including its pension and private ...