All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 232
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TUI Travel unveils staff discount plan
TUI Travel is to launch a new concession scheme offering discounted package holidays and flights for the 19,000 staff working in its UK and Ireland division in April. The move is part of a benefits harmonisation exercise following the 2007 merger of First Choice Holidays and the tourist division of ...
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Inchcape adds voluntary perks
Car retail firm Inchcape has launched childcare vouchers offered via salary sacrifice after switching providers for its voluntary benefits scheme. The vouchers have been added to its voluntary benefits plan this month.Inchcape may also add a salary sacrifice cycle-to-work scheme to its voluntary benefits plan. Currently, 5,000 employees can access ...
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Morrisons launches employee assistance programme
Morrisons has launched an employee assistance programme (EAP) to help support its 117,000 employees during the recession.Through the EAP, which was introduced last month, employees can contact a free and confidential helpline with personal, family, home, health, finance or work-related problems.Provided by Retail Trust, the helpline can signpost employees to ...
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Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust looks to extend long-service recognition scheme
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust is looking to extend its long-service recognition scheme after launching the benefit to staff last year.It wants to honour staff, who pass the benchmarks of 15 and 30 years' service, in addition to those who are currently recognised for 25 years' service.Under the scheme, ...
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Bucks County Council launches EAP for staff
Buckinghamshire County Council has launched an employee assistance programme (EAP) for its 14,500 employees.The confidential service provides employees and their dependants access to advice on debt, childcare and relationships.The EAP is free for employees to use and will be integrated with the organisation's existing healthcare benefits. Employees can also be ...
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Acco Brands Europe offers holiday purchase scheme
Acco Brands Europe has launched a holiday purchase scheme for its 500 UK employees to encourage a positive approach to taking holidays among its workforce and to make savings during the recession.The office supply firm initially piloted the benefit for three months from October to December last year, during which ...
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IPD offers holiday trading benefit
IPD has launched a holiday trading scheme to allow its 200 employees to buy or sell up to three days' annual leave each year.The real estate performance analysis firm provides staff with a core 25-day holiday allowance, from which employees can trade days down in return for a cash allowance ...
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Kent County Council offers online fitness programmes
Kent County Council has launched a virtual gym to give its 44,000 employees access to online personalised fitness programmes.Staff are issued with a password with which to log on to the website, where they can complete a questionnaire and then receive tailored advice on health and wellbeing.They can then access ...
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Coca-Cola Enterprises switches childcare voucher provider
Coca-Cola Enterprises has switched its childcare voucher provider from Accor to You At Work, which also provides its flexible and voluntary benefits schemes for staff.Sheila Cathrow, human resources officer at Coca-Cola Enterprises, said the move was made so that most of its benefits were provided by the same company. “We ...
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Hutchison 3G to relaunch flexible benefits scheme
Hutchison 3G is planning to relaunch its flexible benefits scheme and extend it to 700 head office staff.The telecoms company, which operates mobile phone network 3, currently provides a flex scheme to more than 2,500 staff based in its call centre and retail operations, each of whom have an allowance ...
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The Law Society revamps pay and perks
The Law Society has introduced performance-related pay, a flexible benefits scheme and pensions salary sacrifice for its 1,400 staff, following a 15-month-long project to overhaul perks.Annual pay increases, previously linked to length of service, will now be reviewed against objectives set according to employees' job roles. Bonuses for high performers ...
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Heinz introduces salary sacrifice to pension plans
Heinz has introduced pensions salary sacrifice for its defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans.The food manufacturer brought in the changes last month. The 1,500 staff belonging to the DB scheme, which is closed to new members, pay 6% in employee contributions. The 600 members of its trust-based DC ...
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Linklaters overhauls pensions with auto-enrolment and new contribution structure
Linklaters has overhauled its pension arrangements by introducing auto-enrolment for new employees, salary sacrifice on pension contributions and a new contribution structure. The move follows staff feedback saying that the previous structure was difficult to understand.A third of the law firm's 2,500-strong UK workforce has signed up to the new ...
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BT launches group self-invested personal pension to 20,000 employees
BT has launched a group self-invested personal pension (Sipp) plan for its 20,000 employees currently in trust-based defined contribution (DC) plans.The telecoms firm will open the Sipp in April 2009, following a comprehensive review and consultation process of all its existing UK pension arrangements.The first employees joining the new scheme, ...
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Vivendi 2008 Pensioners' Scheme enters buyout agreement with Met Life Assurance
Vivendi 2008 Pensioners’ Scheme has entered into an agreement with MetLife Assurance to secure its pensioners’ benefits through a bulk annuity contract.The buyout means MetLife Assurance will assume responsibility for paying benefits to members of the media and communications firm’s pension scheme.Steve Godson, independent trustee of the Vivendi 2008 Pensioners’ ...
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HM Treasury lowers sharesave bonus rates
HM Treasury has lowered the bonus rates payable on sharesave (save-as-you-earn) schemes in response to falling market swap rates.The new rates will come into effect on 17 February 2009 and are lower than those introduced in December 2008Employees who sign up to plans after this date will now receive a ...
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Most employees will benefit from auto-enrolment into workplace pensions in 2012
The majority of the population will benefit from auto-enrolment into occupational pensions under 2012 pension reforms, according to a government report.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) study, shows that even after taking inflation into account, over 95% of people will get back more than put in.Furthermore, 70% of pension ...
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Employers urged to support Stress Down Day
Employers are being urged to address the problem of workplace-related stress on Friday 6 February in support of Samaritans’ ‘Stress Down Day.’As part of the national fundraising initiative, the charity has suggested bosses could charge employees to switch off email for the day or to visit relaxation areas in the ...
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Snow-stranded HSBC employees sleep in the office
HSBC created a makeshift hotel for employees at its Canada Square headquarters on the night of 2 February, as transport networks in London ground to a halt leaving workers stranded.A spokesman for the bank said: “About 100 people at Canada Square were stranded and unable to get home.“We sourced a ...
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90% of employers worried about cost of defined benefit pension
Almost all (90%) of UK employers offering a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme are worried about the impact the perk is having on business.According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) fourth annual pension survey, employers are worried that trustees will demand extra cash funding for the pension, at a time when the business ...