All articles by Victoria Furness
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Analysis
Voluntary benefits report 2009: Integrating voluntary benefits with total reward
Integrating voluntary benefits into a total reward strategy has advantages for both employers and employees, says Victoria FurnessDiscounted shopping vouchers and critical illness insurance may not seem to have much in common, but increasingly they are cropping up in the same benefits package as employers integrate voluntary benefits into a ...
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Analysis
Using voluntary benefits to motivate staff
Discounts offered through a voluntary benefits scheme can help keep staff motivated when budgets are tight, says Victoria FurnessMoney may be the root of all evil, but it is also widely recognised as a big driver of employee performance and motivation. So in the current economic climate, with job cuts ...
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Case Studies
Case study: Domino's Pizza - voluntary benefits plan
Case study: Domino's PizzaDomino's Pizza has not suffered as much as some other businesses in the recession, but that does not mean its staff are not on the lookout for a bargain. The company has offered its voluntary benefits scheme, Perks at Domino's, for a year and 67% of its ...
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Case Studies
Case Study: O2 Telefonica UK's holiday benefits
Mobile phone company O2 Telefonica UK decided to have a taste of its own medicine after publishing customer research that revealed almost one-third of Brits would forsake a holiday abroad this summer in favour of a break in the UK.To help employees join in the trend for holidaying in the ...
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Analysis
How employers should use pre-paid cards to motivate staff
Pre-paid cards are an increasingly popular alternative to vouchers, but employers should be clear about how to use them, says Victoria FurnessCash is no longer king in today’s society. Cards overtook cash payments for the first time back in 2005 and Peter Ayliffe, chief executive of Visa Europe, has gone ...
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Analysis
Reward for temporary staff
How should temporary staff be treated when it comes to reward? Victoria Furness looks at the moral and legal considerationsThe UK is recognised as having one of the most flexible labour markets in Europe, which many business leaders attribute to the large proportion of temporary workers in the country.The government ...
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Article
Impact of tax changes on company car fleet costs
As the residual value of cars has fallen, contract hire schemes seemed like the best bet, but recent tax changes may have a bigger impact on fleet costs within an organisation, says Victoria FurnessIf you read nothing else, read this...A car's residual value is the amount it is worth at ...
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Analysis
The evolution of benefits technology
Advances in technology have revolutionised the delivery of benefits in recent years and the evolution process is continuing, says Victoria Furness.The past decade has seen a huge leap in the evolution of technology. Devices that would have seemed fanciful 10 years ago, such as iPods, digital cameras and increasingly sophisticated ...
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Case Studies
Parity revamps benefits technology
Introducing a flexible benefits scheme gave IT firm Parity the opportunity to revamp the technology behind its perks.Before introducing flex, Parity relied on Excel spreadsheets to administer perks and HR managers had to manage staff data manually. Sarah Cook, HR director, says: “We can all go in and instantly see ...
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Case Studies
Case Study: Kellogg's feeds family focus
Kellogg's offers a number of family-friendly perks to its workforce.Ahead of last year's legal changes, Kellogg's carried out a review of its maternity policy.It already offered a generous package, with women on maternity leave receiving 18 weeks on full pay followed by 21 weeks on statutory maternity pay.Dave Lowe, compensation ...
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Analysis
Providing benefits during maternity leave
Employers must quickly get to grips with the new maternity leave rights, says Victoria FurnessThe government's drive to be seen as more family-friendly in recent years - with the introduction of policies such as extended maternity leave - is having an unwanted effect: life has got more complicated for employers ...
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Analysis
Impact of economic downturn on psychological contract between employer and employee
The currently gloomy economic environment could encourage the psychological contract to tip back in employers’ favour away from employees, explains Victoria FurnessWatching events unfold over the past couple of months in the financial services sector has been a bit like watching a soap opera. The collapse of financial institutions such ...
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Case Studies
Case study: Council designs benefits to have wide appeal
Kent County Council (KCC) has designed a wide-ranging benefits package to appeal to as many of its 47,000 employees as possible.Its voluntary benefits scheme, KentRewards, for example, offers discounts on products such as food shopping, clothes, entertainment and leisure to employees, regardless of age or family status.Jane Vivier, former reward ...
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Article
Benefits for the family
Many benefits packages are still tailored to suit the traditional nuclear family but as social norms change, should employers look to benefits that have a broader appeal, asks Victoria Furness. Family life has changed dramatically in the past few decades. The number of single-person households has risen, cohabitation has increased ...
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Analysis
Staff look for total reward package
In the scramble to secure the brightest talents, conveying the total reward package can help give employers a vital competitive edge in recruitment, explains Victoria FurnessTwenty years go, conversations between candidates and employers about remuneration would have focused exclusively on pay and benefits. Fast-forward to today and the picture is ...
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Analysis
Novel ways to communicate perks
Ask any HR or benefits manager what they want from their perks communications and they are likely to come up with words like 'creative', 'effective' and 'inspiring'. The problem is benefits marketing material can often be dull, ineffective and boring.In fairness to benefits managers, most of their job descriptions will ...
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Article
Flexible benefits can trim spend on benefits
Victoria Furness discovers that far from being seen as a drain on resources, flexible benefits could help employers reduce their spend on benefitsAll the macro economic indicators would suggest that now would not be a good time to roll out a brand new flexible benefits programme, given the capital costs ...
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Analysis
Managers' reward
Motivating managers can be a crucial factor in boosting staff engagement, says Victoria FurnessEmployee engagement might sound as if it is all about employees but, in reality, it is more of an issue for managers, given their profound influence on staff engagement levels.A belief that senior management is sincerely interested ...
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Article
Engagement defined
Employee engagement can have numerous meanings so employers must determine how it applies to them, says Victoria FurnessWhoever coined the phrase 'employee engagement' is probably kicking themselves for not registering it as a trademark, as they would most likely be a multi-billionaire by now such is the frequency with which ...
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Article
How benefits can boost engagement
Victoria Furness asks if benefits can help to boost engagement and how to achieve the best resultsLinda Evangelista may once have famously proclaimed that she and the other supermodels, "don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day", but for many, such high wages would be their primary ...