All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 239
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Article
John Lewis Partnership announces bonuses
John Lewis Partnership has announced that all of its 69,000 employees will receive a cash bonus worth 13% of their annual pay, a 7% decline from last year.The retail firm, which owns John Lewis department stores and Waitrose, has said employees will share a £125.5 million bonus pot. This amounts ...
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Article
JLT Benefits Solutions launches pension accuracy test
JLT Benefit Solutions (JLT) has launched a pension 'Validator', a new data testing product for testing the accuracy of pension scheme data.The product provides schemes with a data quality certificate which clearly outlines the results in various areas as well as recommendations to improve the quality of the scheme data ...
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Article
BT announces pay freeze for UK workforce
BT Group has announced a pay freeze for its 100,000-strong UK workforce as part of its efforts to deal with the challenges of operating in the current economic climate.While the telecommunications firm confirmed that the block on pay would apply to senior executives, it said a decision had not yet ...
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Article
Sony France staff hold boss hostage over severance payouts
The chief executive of Sony France has reportedly been held hostage as part of a protest staged by factory workers who are dissatisfied with their severance payouts.It has been reported that Serge Foucher was forced to spend the night in a meeting room at Sony’s video plant in south-west France, ...
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Article
Local authority pension funds sue Royal Bank of Scotland
Two local authority pension funds are taking legal action against the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) to seek compensation for losses on investments they made with the bank.The Merseyside and North Yorkshire pension funds are accusing RBS of not being upfront about the severity of its difficulties before the ...
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Article
The Equality and Human Rights Commission calls for equal pay reform
The Equality for Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has called for a radical equal pay reform ahead of the government's upcoming Equality Bill, due to be published this spring.The EHRC, the body responsible for safeguarding equality in the UK, said that Britain's equal pay laws are outdated and reliant on individual ...
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Article
Law firm introduces HR self-service and better capital management reporting
Browne Jacobson has implemented a new human capital management system, allowing employees self-service access to a number of functions, including HR records and holiday requests.The Midlands-based law firm brought in the software, provided by COA Solutions, to store, update, access and process HR and payroll information more efficiently and accurately. ...
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Article
Half of employees consider their pension fund to be safe
Almost half (43%) of UK employees consider their occupational pension fund to be safe, according to research published by JLT Benefit Solutions (JLT).The research, however, also showed that 25% of employees are not able to accurately assess the financial security of their pension, which implies they do not sufficiently understand ...
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Article
US Treasury seeks to recoup bonuses paid to AIG's staff
The US Treasury is looking at ways to recoup the $165 million paid out in retention bonuses to AIG employees based at the firm's financial products division, which has sites in London and Connecticut. The bonuses were awarded to staff at a time when the insurance company is heavily reliant ...
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Article
Ryanair pilots agree to pay freeze
Ryanair pilots have agreed to a 12-month pay freeze and productivity improvements as a preferred alternative to the company's proposal to cut pay by 10%.This follows a round of negotiations at the company's 31 pilot bases across Europe.Ryanair’s director of flight operations and ground operations, David O’Brien, said: “Management at ...
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Article
Employers feel flex tax and NI pressure
Employers feel under greater pressure to maximise tax and National Insurance (NI) breaks within flexible benefits.The Employee Benefits/Towers Perrin Flexible Benefits Research 2009, published this month, found that 36% of employers that offer flexible benefits are under pressure to introduce tax-efficient benefits via salary sacrifice.In the current economic climate they ...
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Article
Employee Benefits Report for Financial Directors
NewsEmployers feel flex tax and NI pressureFSA urges bonuses to be deferredFirms still not ready for pension reforms£2billion of expenses are wrongly clearedIt is legal to retire staff at 65Aviva improves reward provisionEmployer profileEmployee benefits at Yorkshire Building SocietyFeaturesGet staff to see the true value of perksPass on management costs ...
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Article
Employers need to focus on pension adviser fees
As most employers continue to struggle with the economic climate, both trustees and their sponsors are looking for ways that the pension scheme can play its part in reducing costs from the business. While changes to areas such as pensionable salaries, scheme design and recovery plans represent the most substantial ...
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Article
FSA urges bonuses to be deferred
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has called for further restraint in the banking sector.In its code of practice on remuneration policies, published last month, the FSA said that those setting bonuses in the sector should ensure remuneration policies are based not only on staffs' contribution to the financial performance of ...
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Analysis
Special report: Tax efficiency on employee benefits
Executive summary: Using tax and National Insurance (NI) breaks available on the provision of benefits can save employers money and help to improve cash flow. It is especially pertinent as NI is due to rise by 0.5% for both employees and employers in April 2011. The first most obvious way ...
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Article
Firms still not ready for pension reforms
Nearly a third of FTSE100 companies are not prepared for pension reforms due in 2012, a survey by Watson Wyatt claims.The actuary's research, 2009 FTSE100 Defined Contribution Pension Survey, showed that of those that have made preparations, 12% said they would have to increase employer costs, and 12% said they ...
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Article
GBP2bn expenses are wrongly cleared
Businesses in the UK are reportedly losing an estimated £2 billion due to wrongly-approved employee expense payments, according to research from GlobalExpense. The Employee Expenses Benchmark Report 2009 examined 4.8 million expenses claims from more than 150,000 UK-based employees, and contradicts a recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel ...
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Analysis
Employers must examine eye care for staff
Employers need to look carefully at eye care for their staff, says Stephanie SpicerIn the grand scheme of cost control, eye tests may not flash too brightly on the radar of most finance directors. This may be short-sighted – employers have obligations to their employees concerning their eye care, but ...
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Article
It is legal to retire staff at 65
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the UK's compulsory retirement age of 65 is not in breach of EU legislation.The case against the legislation had been made by charity Age Concern through its 'Heyday' campaign. The ECJ ruled that employers can continue to retire staff at 65 ...
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Article
Aviva improves reward provision
Insurance group Aviva has launched a benefits website, online total rewards statements and a recognition scheme ahead of the firm's rebranding in June. The firm will also move to a flexible benefits scheme to coincide with the rebrand.