All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 242
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Article
Russian staff perform synchronised swimming routine at work
A group of female Russian employees have put their lunch breaks to good use by performing a synchronised swimming routine at their desks.The five leggy office workers, who work for an architects' firm, reportedly filmed their routine in the office for an Olympic-themed competition. Anyone working through their lunch hour ...
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Article
Budget predictions suggest high earners will be hit by increases in income tax
The forthcoming budget due to be announced on 22 April is likely to affect higher earners who could be hit by significant increases in income tax according to tax specialists Smith & Williamson.Richard Mannion, national tax director at Smith & Williamson, said higher rate taxpayers, who will already be paying ...
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Article
The right to request flexible working is extended to an extra 4.5 million parents
The right to request flexible working has been extended to an extra 4.5 million parents with children aged 16 and under.The right to ask employers for flexible working hours previously only applied to parents of children up to the age of six or disabled children aged up to 18.Pat McFadden, ...
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Article
The Pensions Trust appoints new chair
The Pensions Trust has announced the appointment of Lynda Howe as the new chair of its board of directors and Keith Nunn as deputy chair.Howe will replace John Alleston who retired as chair after five years in the post, while Nunn will replace Clive Unitt who has also retired this ...
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Article
Trustees face tough test with pension scheme recovery plans
Pension scheme trustees are on the verge of what may be the most trying period of their career as the first major wave of recovery plans of this recession are due to be submitted to the Pensions Regulator in June and July, says Trustee GAAPS, the trustee search and selection ...
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Article
Panasonic replaces private medical insurance with healthcare trust
Panasonic has replaced its traditional private medical insurance (PMI) scheme with benefits offered through a healthcare trust. The trust, which will provide health insurance for the electronic firm's 1,300 employees based across three different sites in the UK, operates in an almost identical manner to traditional PMI schemes. However, healthcare ...
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Article
BA looks to reduce cabin crew employment costs
British Airways (BA) has held talks with its cabin crew and unions in order to try and reduce employment costs.The airline has offered a list of 32 cost-cutting proposals to the cabin crew including a temporary pay freeze, a reduction in annual leave and a reduction in bonuses for working ...
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Article
Debi O'Donovan, editor of Employee Benefits: Motivation is key in a crisis and words can be the best reward
By now there are few people in the UK who have not, in some way, been affected by redundancies. For the majority, it is a case of having watched colleagues leave while those left have to pick up the pieces and carry on, often still feeling jittery about their own ...
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Article
Buyer's guide to group income protection (April 2009)
Greater competition and the development of shorter-term schemes are making group income protection more cost-effective, says Sam BarrettRead more Buyer's GuidesFocus on facts:What is group income protection?Group income protection (GIP) provides an income for employees who are unable to work as a result of long-term illness or injury. It is ...
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Article
Alastair Kendrick, director of employment tax services, Mazars: Capital allowance rules drive fleet changes
The changes to capital allowance rules on company cars enforced this month are likely have a significant impact on future fleet costs.Previous rules considered any car costing more than £12,000 to be an expensive vehicle, and therefore subject to a separate taxation calculation for capital allowance relief. As part of ...
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Ian Bowles, group CSR manager, Premier Foods: Social responsibility is a rewarding experience
Today's employees, customers, suppliers and consumers are all concerned about companies' ethical and environmental credentials. They want to know not only about the quality and value of the products themselves, but also whether the materials used have been sourced responsibly and transported in a way that has the least impact ...
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Article
Pension funds sue RBS
Two local authority pension funds are taking legal action against the Royal Bank of Scotland Group 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
Benefits surgery: Cutting pension scheme costs
Q We are considering cost-cutting measures in our occupational pension scheme. What legal issues should we be aware of?A Employers should first examine their employment contracts to check whether they have given staff the right to membership of a specific pension scheme, or whether the entitlement only gives employees the ...
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Case Studies
Case Study: Aunt Bessie's
Food manufacturer Aunt Bessie's employs 500 staff and, until 2004, had struggled to achieve a return on investment with a manually-administered absence management system.It now uses a system in which staff call in to an automated voice-prompted line if they are going to be absent. The system removes the need ...
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Case Studies
Case Study: Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council sees the management of sickness absence as a key business driver and keeps a close eye on its strategy to ensure it is as effective as possible.Involvement of line managers was identified as key. The council decided that sickness absence management information should be provided to line ...
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Article
Mike Sullivan appointed as president of the Pensions Management Institute
Mike Sullivan has been appointed as the new president of the Pensions Management Institute (PMI). Sullivan will take over from the role from Steve Delo at the PMI’s annual general meeting on 9 July. Sullivan was elected to PMI Council in 2000 and become vice president in 2008. He is ...
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Article
Kathleen Rowe joins Tullow Oil as group reward manager
Tullow Oil has appointed Kathleen Rowe as group reward manager, responsible for the firm’s overall reward strategy internationally. Rowe joined Tullow from Genworth Financial, where she worked as compensation and benefits director for Europe for 20 months. She said she was looking forward to the challenge of dealing with business ...
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Article
Jim Newell joins BSI Group as HR director
BSI Group has appointed Jim Newell as group HR director. Newell joined the business services firm last month from TI Automotive where he spent eight years as global HR and communications director. Prior to this, he held senior HR positions at British Aerospace and Land Rover. Newell replaces John Titmuss ...
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Article
Confessions of a benefits manager: Change for the worse
An attempt to re-broke the company's UK medical plan causes widespread palpitations, headaches and convulsions - and unearths the curious case of an unknown Mr Pipp, as Candid explainsMy colleagues at HQ know how to have a good time. Apparently, they have been talking to Smarmy Consulting about multinational insurance ...
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Case Studies
Employer profile: Heinz
A radical change in its employee reward strategy has energised a product development push by food giant Heinz UK and Ireland, says Nicola Sullivan.Foods such as soup and baked beans often come into their own during tough economic times as consumers look for affordable, nutritious staples. Evidence that consumers are ...