All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 271
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Article
Trainee managers at McDonalds get better benefits than journalists
A-level students that have studied media or other so-called 'micky mouse' subjects may have been told they can only expect to get a job flipping burgers.The hopeful youngsters, however may be better off at McDonalds, which boasts a far meatier benefits package than many journalists get on business-to-business magazines.†Apparently, Formula ...
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Article
Lorica Online adds to its cycle-to-work benefits for clients
Lorica Online, the new flexible benefits division of Lorica Consulting, has partnered with Wheelies Direct Cycle Solutions and added it to the cycle-to-work schemes it offers to clients.Wheelies Direct Cycle Solutions has been working with organisations all over the UK since 2005 to provide the government-backed cycle-to-work scheme.Matt Duffy, partnerships ...
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Article
East Sussex County Council tracks absence for 3,000 staff
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has appointed FirstCare to provide a day one absence management service for over 3,000 employees from its adult social care, children’s services and chief executives departments.The service, which commences on 1 October, will encompass day one nurse-led absence reporting, policy compliance tracking, stage of absence ...
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Article
Buyer's guide to emergency childcare (September 2009)
It's worth having services in place to head off short-notice staff absence because of childcare problems, says Nicola SullivanIn their efforts to reduce staff absence or the likelihood of leave being taken at short notice, employers can add emergency childcare services to their package of family-friendly benefits. This perk is ...
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Article
Whitbread perks up defined contribution plan ahead of 2012
Whitbread, the leisure group which owns Costa Coffee and Premier Inns, will extend eligibility for its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme to an extra 14,000 staff and increase employer contribution rates to between 4.5% and 6% of salary.This announcement, which is partly motivated by the changes to pensions legislation ...
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Analysis
A strategy to avoid long-term staff absences
Employers need a clear strategy to deal with employee absence caused by long-term conditions, says Sally HamiltonIf you read nothing else, read this…Employers should get in touch with long-term absentees sooner rather than later.Employers could consider work-focused healthcare, involve staff when devising a return-to-work plan and consider a phased return, ...
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Article
Government goes ahead with plans to extend paternity leave rights
The government has announced today that it will go ahead with its plans to make the second six months of maternity leave transferable between parents.The new right, announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown today, would allow women who have had a child and return to work after six months to ...
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Article
Lloyds TSB Autolease launches tool to check on mileage
Lloyds TSB Autolease has launched a mileage capture tool to help employers offering an employee car ownership scheme control fuel, maintenance and taxation costs. Mileage Logger gives drivers remote access to an online portal where they can record their business mileage, fuel costs and details such as whether they shared ...
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Article
Childcare vouchers to be hit by phased withdrawal of tax and NI breaks
Tax and national insurance breaks on childcare vouchers will be withdrawn in stages starting in April 2011.Share your views on this newsEmployees taking up childcare vouchers from April 2011 for the first time will no longer benefit from tax and national insurance breaks, while employees who are existing recipients of ...
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Analysis
Keep mileage claims under control
Making sure employees' mileage claims are accurate can keep employers' fuel costs under control, says Nic PatonIf you read nothing else, read this...Mileage capture schemes can reduce fraudulent claims and help with HM Revenue and Customs compliance.Recognise that not all mistakes will be down to fraud.Employers should spend time communicating ...
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Article
Driver negligence is increasing fleet costs
Driver negligence around maintenance and repair bills is hitting UK employers in the pocket, according to research by Lex Autolease.Company car misfuelling, windscreen damage, illegal tyres and vehicle downtime are the major cost burdens revealed by the study, which highlights the need for firms to work harder to tackle unnecessary ...
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Analysis
New trends for DC pension default funds
Most defined contribution pension members use schemes' default funds, but investment trends are changing, says Matthew CraigIf you read nothing else, read this...Some 82% of defined contribution members do not actively decide where to invest.Their contributions go into a default fund, which generally aims for positive returns without excessive risk-taking. ...
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Article
Lorica Online teams up with Sodexo
Employee benefits consultancy Lorica Online has teamed up with voucher provider Sodexo.The partnership will see Sodexo’s online vouchers, which are used by employees to make savings on products and services, such as childcare vouchers, integrated into Lorica’s flexible benefits portal, the Cube.Matt Duffy, partnerships manager at Lorica Online, said: “We ...
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Article
Most final salary pension schemes are closed to new joiners
The first report of the Association of Consulting Actuaries’ (ACA) survey on pension trends has found that 87% of defined benefit (DB)†schemes are now closed to new entrants.The ACA pensions trends survey, of 309 employers with assets exceeding £138 billion, also found that 18% of those schemes closed to new ...
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Article
DSG International puts CEO salary sacrifice plan to vote
Shareholders at DSG International are due to vote today on a controversial salary sacrifice arrangement which would see its chief executive sacrifice 25% of his salary in return for share options.The Association of British Insurers (ABI) issued an 'amber-top' report, highlighting that the proposal constitutes a breach of its guidelines ...
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Article
Friends Provident redesigns pensions literature
Friends Provident has redesigned its pensions literature to make it easier for employees to understand the benefits of joining their employer’s scheme.The redesign, which sees the number of pages in the booklet drop from 40 to 16, was based on feedback from members and focus groups. David Millar, manager of ...
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Article
FirstGroup employees give almost £5,000 to charity
Staff at transport operator FirstGroup have raised nearly £5,000 for the charity Save the Children through one of the firm's employee share schemes.FirstGroup employees donated a total of £4,765.96 to Save the Children through its save-as-you-earn (SAYE) share save scheme. Last year FirstGroup offered employees the opportunity to give any ...
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Article
Shareholders at DSG International back controversial executive salary sacrifice plan
Shareholders at DSG International voted in favour of a controversial salary sacrifice arrangement which will allow its chief executive sacrifice 25% of his salary in return for share options.The electrical goods retailer won the backing of shareholders despite the fact that The Association of British (ABI) Insurers has issued an ...
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Article
Staff who understand reward are more motivated
More than half (57%) of business leaders who feel employees do not understand their reward have seen a drop in employee motivation, according to a study from Drewberry, the employee engagement and research consultancy.The research also found that business leaders who feel employees understand their reward only 23% saw a ...
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Article
Anglian Water Group replaces pension governance system
Anglian Water Group is replacing its existing pension governance model with a bespoke, online solution from eShare.The deal will see eShare technology managing the Scheme’s document library and risk register as well as streamlining decision-making processes with its eDecisions application.Prior to implementing eShare’s governance software, the pensions team relied mainly ...