All articles by System Administrator – Page 55
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Article
Fees: is your plan running to stand still?
One key tactical point for employers may be in deciding whether they want to pass some costs on to the employeesThe cost of setting up a pension plan varies greatly from scheme to scheme and largely depends on the level of advice required around issues such as scheme design and ...
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Article
How to evaluate pensions
Why manage a pension?Running costsSalary sacrifice savingsReturn on investmentPersonal accountsEvaluating investmentsSponsor's message: Push pensions' valueDownload: How to evaluate pensions (PDF 654KB)A pension scheme is a must-have benefit for most employers. But the cost of providing this benefit to staff can be considerable and the impact of a pension on recruitment ...
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Analysis
Establish objectives for the pension plan
There will often be tension about pensions funding costs as a scheme will compete against an organisation's other prioritiesIn theory it sounds easy to justify running a pension scheme, but in reality the business case is hard to pin down. This is compounded by the current emphasis on total reward, ...
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Article
Flex working is in demand in IT sector
A quarter of IT professionals have turned down a job because they were not offered flexible working as part of their package. Although 93% of employees in the IT industry would like to work flexibly, 47% think such a request would be turned down by their employer, while 10% believe ...
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Article
Dagger gets Outset job
Brakes' HR director Andy Dagger has left the food supplier to take up the position of operations director for an human resources advisory service for line managers, owned by Outset.The helpline service gives advice to managers to deal with issues on employee relations and is backed up with legal support. ...
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Analysis
Conference news: Salary sacrifice obligations
Employers are still failing to recognise that implementing a salary sacrifice arrangement requires a change to employees' contracts of employment.At the Employee Benefits Conference's Beginner's guide: how to go about flexible benefits, Chris Bruce, director of marketing and technology at flex specialist Thomsons Online Benefits, warned: "We have come across ...
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Article
Clear communications over pensions is a vital element
Employers need to take more responsibility when it comes to communicating pension schemes and pension changes.Speaking in the session, How new pension rules shape HR strategy: from performance management to flexible retirement,†Michael Whitfield, managing director at benefits provider Thomsons Online Benefits, urged employers not to wait for government deadlines around ...
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Article
Reward clarity retains staff
The value of total reward statements was outlined in the Employee Benefits Conference masterclass Taking reward communication to the next level.Peter Wormersley, head of reward and recognition at Vertex Data Science, explained that total reward statements give organisations the chance to let staff know what they would miss out on ...
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Analysis
Extending healthcare cashplans
Healthcare cash plans have been around for decades but providers are now extending their core products to include services such as health screening and GP helplines for little or no extra cost, says Victoria FurnessHealthcare cash plans, which typically reimburse employees for dental, optical and physiotherapy treatments, have grown in ...
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Analysis
Bosses warned of need to compete globally for talent
Employers were warned they would have to adapt their benefits strategies to cope with key demographic, social, economic and technological trends and to stop "thinking like Victorian employers" at the HR Solutions and Employee Benefits Conference 2007, held on 1-2 May in Manchester.In his opening keynote on Preparing for the ...
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Article
Roberts named talent boss at Tesco
Tesco's group benefits manager Mark Roberts has moved to become head of talent management at the retailer. His new role has a global rather than a UK focus and involves locating and nurturing employee talent at the retailer. "I will be looking to identify and develop talent at Tesco and ...
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Analysis
Salary sacrifice can boost pension payments
Salary sacrifice provides an ideal opportunity for staff to boost pensions payments and employers to make savingsWhen it comes to pension costs, one of the most difficult issues organisations face is assessing what the level of take-up will be and what budget to allocate to a scheme.There are several scenarios ...
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Article
Firms launch schemes to coincide with Bike Week
A number of employers are set to launch cycle-to-work schemes to coincide with Bike Week.North Wales Fire and Rescue plans to use the week, from 16-24 June, to highlight the launch of its scheme which is provided by Halfords.Peter Jones, health and safety manager, said: "Bike week lets us give ...
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Article
"Two-way" engagement leads to better productivity
Improving communication and psychological wellbeing in the workplace could lead to a more productive workforce according to independent consultant Jeff Grout, the former UK managing director of specialist recruitment firm Robert Half International.Speaking in the opening keynote speech, Communication for a highly-engaged workforce, on 2 May at the HR Solutions ...
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Analysis
Better opt to cogitate on your pension scheme now
Auto-enrolment and compulsory employer contributions are due to be introduced in 2012, but it doesn't hurt to think aheadEmployers without a company-supported pension scheme have been happily drifting along for years. From 2012 that will all change when the government's new National Pension Savings Scheme (NPSS) comes into effect. This ...
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Article
HR Solutions and Employee Benefits exhibition highlights
The HR Solutions and Employee Benefits Exhibition was once again packed with providers on hand to demonstrate their products to visitors.New exhibitors included Charities Aid Foundation, Elemis, John Charcol, Manson Warner Healthcare and Legal & General. A series of free workshops hosted by providers such as the Pension Service and ...
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Case Studies
Scottish Power employee benefits from DB scheme
Wired into the company's DB plan Barbara Teape is an executive support assistant at Scottish Power, where she has worked for 29 years.Teape is a member of the company's defined benefit (DB) scheme, having joined before the stakeholder scheme and eligibility criteria requirements for the final salary plan were introduced. ...
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Case Studies
Jones Lang LaSalle believes in its sharesave scheme
Real estate services group Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) believes its sharesave scheme helps it stand out from its competitors. Shameel Ahmed, head of reward at the firm, says: "Most of our rivals are partnerships and cannot offer a sharesave scheme. It's definitely a competitive advantage when recruiting."JLL introduced its first ...
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Analysis
Bamboozled by choice of pension fund options?
A vast array of fund choices often results in members settling for default funds, so is there a happy medium?There is a general consensus that there is no value in offering more than ten different fund choices. Organisations that ignore this tend to find members are simply driven into the ...
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Case Studies
British Library balances financial and work-life incentives
The British Library aims to strike a balance between financial and work-life balance incentives.Mary Canavan, director of HR, explains: "Employees feel that the organisation values them not only through extrinsic reward, such as performance-related pay, but also through intrinsic reward, such as [providing] feedback, recognition and employee wellbeing support."†The organisation, ...