All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 216
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Article
Denton Wilde Sapte revamps flexible benefits provision
International law firm, Denton Wilde Sapte (DWS), has revamped its flexible benefits provision in a bid to improve usability for employees and introduce 'green' benefits.The firm has added new 'green' benefits such as bikes for work and carbon offsetting to its flex offering, in addition to updating the company-branded website ...
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Article
New Pensions Bill changes will help employers
New measures designed to ease the administrative and financial burdens on employers running their own pension schemes when personal accounts come into effect have been announced by Pensions Minister, Rosie Winterton.Following discussions with stakeholders, employers will now be able to self certify that their pension scheme meets the quality standard ...
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Article
Credit crunch drives take-up of cycle-to-work schemes
The economic downturn is thought to be driving a boom in cycle-to-work schemes as increasing numbers of staff are signing up to the benefits to save money on their commute.The number of staff opting to take up bikes has risen threefold on the same period last year, according to several ...
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Article
Job creation and pay rises stall as employers fear the worst
Job creation in the UK is at a virtual standstill while pressure to increase pay and bonuses has been subdued as employers expect the economic downturn to worsen in coming months.According to the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey (LMO) from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and ...
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Article
UK pension deficits soar in downturn
The UK's defined benefit (DB) pension schemes are estimated to have a combined deficit of almost £100bn, with £17bn wiped off the value of plans last month alone due to the plummeting stock market, a new report shows.According to the Pensions Protection Fund (PPF), who calculated the aggregate funding position ...
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Article
Pre-Budget report set to include tax cuts to boost economy
Tax cuts to boost the economy are likely to be included in the Pre-Budget report which is due to be unveiled on Monday, 24 November.In an interview on GMTV yesterday, Gordon Brown hinted at possible future tax cuts funded by a temporary increase in borrowing with the aim of getting ...
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Article
Unemployment reaches eleven-year high
The number of people out of work in the UK has reached an 11 year high. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released today show a jump of 140,000 in the three months to September to 1.82 million.This follows the announcement of 5,000 job losses yesterday, with Vodafone, ...
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Article
Employers urged to help fight obesity through their health and wellbeing strategies
Helping employees fight obesity will lead to a healthier and in turn more productive workforce, say experts.As National Obesity Week draws to a close, Dr Colin Waine, who chaired the national Obesity Forum for three years, has called on employers to support staff in the workplace by providing healthy food ...
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Article
Generation Y demand better benefits but lacks loyalty of elders
sThe next generation of workers expects more from their employer, demanding more pay and benefits than their predecessors, but are likely to change employer often despite the perks on offer.A study by recruitment specialist FreshMinds Talent examined the different expectations in the workplace of Generation Y, born after 1982, Generation ...
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Article
Pension Protection Fund consults on including longer-term risk in levy
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has launched a consultation on including the individual longer-term risk of schemes in future levy calculations.The consultation sets out the PPF's proposals to make the pension protection levy paid by eligible pension schemes more tailored to the individual risk that each scheme poses to it. ...
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Article
Unite calls for action on hospitality tipping
Employers in the hospitality industry have faced calls to pay at least minimum wage and stop holding back tips left for their staff in order to profit themselves.As the government begins its consultation on tipping in the hospitality industry, worker's union Unite is calling for action to ensure employees in ...
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Article
UBS announces new executive compensation plan
UBS is to adopt a new compensation strategy for its board of directors and group executive board after canceling this year's bonuses for its top executives.From 2009, variable cash and equity compensation for the group executive board will be based on a bonus/malus (which is Latin meaning good and bad ...
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Article
BAA launches discount website for Heathrow staff
BAA has introduced a discounts website for all 73,000 Heathrow Airport staff this week, including those working for airlines, retailers, catering and security firms.For the past three years, the discounts had previously only been promoted at Christmas time, but the introduction of the website will allow employees to access the ...
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Case Studies
Employee benefits at Centrica
Overview of CentricaCentrica was born out of a demerger from British Gas in 1997. The group now comprises British Gas, Centrica Energy, Direct Energy, Centrica in Europe, Centrica Storage and Dyno.The group reported operating profit of £992m for the six months to 30 June 2008, down from £1.2bn in the ...
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Analysis
Measure return on investment on benefits
Executive summary Benefits are notoriously difficult to slot into a pure ROI model. So a variety of alternatives have been developed to measure the ROI on different benefits. One of the most common ways is to measure the perceived value staff place on their benefits. An advantage of this approach, ...
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Analysis
Maximise tax breaks by transferring Sips to Sipps
Executive Summary When linked with employee share plans, a self invested personal pension (Sipp) can boost pension pots by thousands of pounds because shares from approved schemes can be rolled over into the pension, tax-free. Employees in share incentive plans (Sip) can move their shares tax free into a Sipp ...
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Analysis
Update on pensions accounting standards
Pension fund accounting - what's going on?UK: Accounting Standards BoardFinancial Reporting of Pensions discussion paper issued 31 January 2008, written with European standard-setters to influence the debate on accounting for pensions.The paper proposed: Using a risk-free rate to value liabilities The use of actual, not expected, returns in pension fund ...
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Analysis
Good sales incentive management boosts profits
Executive Summary Incentivisation compensation management (ICM) software allows employers to administer variable pay in order maximise profit by tracking the right type of selling and customer service. Most employers still use 'homegrown' systems based on Excel spreadsheets but these often cannot handle complexity such as multi-country systems and so are ...
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Analysis
Special report: Defined contribution pensions
Executive Summary: Employees need to be educated about the importance of investments in contract-based DC plans. The introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 will increase take up of pension schemes to around 80% or 90%. This means that pension costs could jump dramatically for most employers. Planning for personal accounts should ...
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Article
Report for FDs: Falling shares hit DB schemes
Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes continue to struggle in the face of falling share prices. BT is planning to overhaul its DB pension scheme after its deficits rose by an estimated £5bn this year to approximately £16bn. While Express Newspapers has reportedly warned staff of proposals to freeze its defined ...