All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 298
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Article
Liberty International insures pension benefits in GBP61m buy-out deal
Property company Liberty International has insured its pension benefits in a £61 million buy-out deal with the Pensions Insurance Corporation.The move, announced by the Liberty International Group Retirement Benefit Scheme, will see it insure its defined benefit (DB) obligations in a deal comprising £46 million in scheme assets and a ...
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Article
Mercer appoints Steve Smith as new UK HR head
Mercer has appointed Steve Smith as UK head of human resources.Smith joined the consultancy from Alliance Trust where he held the position of head of human resources for five years. Prior to that, he was group HR director at Aberdeen Asset Management.During his 20 years of professional experience in human ...
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Case Studies
Case study: Catlin's extended employee share scheme
Insurance company Catlin extended its employee share scheme in September last year to include staff in Bermuda, Germany, Canada and Singapore using its UK sharesave model as a global template.The firm, which employs 1,300 staff globally, previously offered a sharesave (save-as-you-earn) scheme to 699 UK staff and a stock purchase ...
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Article
Manager grants extra holiday to troubled footballer
News that John Terry’s boss Chelsea FC manager Carlo Ancelotti has granted the troubled footballer extra annual leave following allegations that he cheated on his wife shows what a useful management tool holiday can be.This also builds the case for offering holiday trading as a workplace benefit. After all, the ...
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Article
Pension Protection Fund to face 'increasing challenges'
The head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will face increasing challenges as more schemes are transferred to it.Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said that although the PPF has done well to retain a healthy balance sheet in trying economic times ...
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Article
NorthgateArinso acquires Australian HR and payroll provider Neller
NorthgateArinso has acquired Australian HR and payroll solution provider Neller.The acquisition supports software and services provider NorthgateArinso’s UK global growth strategy as it seeks to expand in Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific (ANZA).Neller, headquartered in Adelaide, Australia, develops and markets software and services to support HR professionals. Neller’s subsidiary, ...
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Article
New health assessment service for over 40s launched
Employers, including Tesco, are introducing a new NHS service to staff which gives over-40s a free and confidential online lifestyle assessment, after it went live today.NHS MidLifeCheck covers issues such as smoking, healthy eating, alcohol, physical activity and emotional wellbeing. It tells the user what they are doing well and ...
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Article
Bupa International staff raise money for Haiti earthquake appeal
Employees at Bupa International have raised more than £1,000 for the British Red Cross Haiti earthquake appeal after the insurer organised a dress-down day.Staff raised £565 through donations to the appeal, which were given so they could come into work wearing casual clothing instead of business dress. The amount of ...
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Article
Linklaters wins Lawyer HR award for benefits package
Law firm Linklaters has won the award for 'Most effective employee benefits scheme' at this year’s Lawyer HR awards, which took place last night.The law firm, which employs a 2,500-strong workforce, has made a number of changes to its benefits package in the past year. These include the introduction of ...
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Article
Marine Harvest (Scotland) switches providers for pensions services
Scottish salmon producer Marine Harvest (Scotland) has switched providers for its pensions administration, actuarial and consultancy services of the Marine Harvest Pension Scheme.From this month, Xafinity will take over the contract from Towers Watson.The open-ended contract will be serviced by Xafinity from its Stirling office in Scotland.Jonathan Seed, director for ...
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Article
Reducing benefits unpopular cost-cutting measure, says study
Reducing benefits and cutting salary are two of the most unpopular measures that staff consider an employer can make when looking to cut costs.According to IFF Research's Attitudes to Work study, just 4% of employees said reducing benefits would be their preferred cost-cutting measure if employers were forced to tighten ...
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Article
DC pension investment consultation paper launched
Best practice in defined contribution (DC) schemes is the subject of a new consultation paper published by the Investment Governance Group (IGG).The IGG, a group of senior figures representing all parts of the private work-based pension environment, set up a subgroup to address the issue, and the consultation paper is ...
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Article
Male IT employees are the most romantic
It appears that the reputation IT employees have for being paled-faced geeks more interested in computer games than real-life social interaction is unfounded.In fact, research suggests that a woman who is hooked up with a bloke from the IT department is likely to have a better time this Valentine’s Day ...
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Article
BT outlines pension deficit payment plan
Telecoms firm BT has said it will pay off its £9bn pensions deficit over the next 17 years.The organisation's valuation and recovery plan will see BT pay off the deficit at £525m per annum over the first three years, £583m in the fourth year and increasing at 3% each year ...
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Article
Marks and Spencer offers free home insulation to staff
Marks and Spencer is offering free loft or cavity wall insulation to all employees to accompany the launch of its new Home Energy Service division and its first new service, M&S Energy Home Insulation.†The retailer will also pay the benefit-in-kind tax on the perk to encourage employees to take part.If ...
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Article
Gift card and voucher sales increase
Sales of gift cards and vouchers grew during quarter four (Q4) 2009, according to sales data from the UK Gift Card and Voucher Association (UKGCVA).The business-to-business sector, where gift cards and vouchers are commonly used as corporate gifts, rewards and incentives, saw an increase of 2.8%.†One significant area of growth ...
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Article
Hewitt Associates partners with Aquila on pensions administration
Consultancy Hewitt Associates has partnered with Aquila, the European pensions administration software provider, to implement its administrator system across Europe. The two companies will work together to move the first UK clients onto the system by the end of 2010.Derek Morgan, European benefits outsourcing lead at Hewitt Associates, said the ...
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Article
PrePay Solutions reaches first anniversary
Prepay Solutions, a strategic alliance between Accor Services and MasterCard Europe, is celebrating its first anniversary.†The company delivers prepaid and electronic card-based solutions to corporate, retail, government, business and consumer markets.Gilles Coccoli,†managing director of Prepay Solutions, said: “The potential of this industry both locally and internationally is huge.†"We are all ...
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Article
Barclays' staff share bonus pot of more than £2bn
Barclay's employees will share total cash payments of £1.5bn and £1.2bn in long-term awards, while the bank's chief executive and president have turned down their annual bonuses.The bonus awards for the bank's 144,000 staff, including those working in high street branches, will vest over three years and will be subject ...
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Article
Active management strategies will be vital to DC pensions by 2012
More than three-quarters (76%) of pension groups believe active management strategies will play a 'significant' or 'vital' roles in their defined contribution (DC) pension schemes by the time the national employment savings trust (Nest) launches in 2012.According to research by Clear Path Analysis, which was conducted among more than 50 ...