All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 314
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Goldman Sachs compensation pot just under half its revenue
Goldman Sachs has paid its employees $5.5bn (about £3.6bn) in compensation and bonuses after it announced profits had doubled on the same period last year.The investment bank also revealed its compensation pot was equivalent to 43% of its revenue, down from 50% over the same period last year.The bank announced ...
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Travel disruption puts pressure on payroll departments
The ban on flights in response to the volcanic ash cloud also has serious implications for employers' payroll departments.Payroll staff have had to decide whether the unplanned absence of stranded staff affects their annual holiday allowance or should be treated as unpaid or paid leave.Lindsay Melvin, chief executive of the ...
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Recession dents a third of employees’ retirement plans
Almost three-quarters (68%) of employees believe they must take more personal responsibility for their pensions as the recession put significant dents in retirement plans. However, less than 30% say they feel comfortable managing this responsibility.According to Towers Watson’s Global Workforce Study, which surveyed employee attitudes and workplace trends covering 20,000 ...
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Aviva and RAC final salary pension schemes to close
Insurer Aviva is planning to close its final salary pension schemes to existing members to try to eliminate a £3bn deficit.Aviva will begin a 90-day consultation process in June with a view to closing the scheme in March next year.The move would affect 5,600 Aviva employees and 2,000 staff at ...
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Atkin Trustees launch pension scheme management service
Atkin Trustees has launched a new pension scheme management service designed to free employers up from the main responsibilities entailed with scheme governance. The service called the Scheme Management Outsourcing model will see Atkin Trustees take over full responsibility for the governance of an organisation’s pension scheme, as well as ...
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Good communication will minimise 'levelling down' of pensions
Two-thirds (65%) of independent financial advisers (IFAs) believe active promotion of quality pension schemes is necessary to minimise levelling down of corporate pension provision ahead of auto-enrolment in 2012, according to research conducted by Aegon.The survey Corporate Advice - The Changing Landscape also found 61% of advisers thought generating an ...
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Family issues are the chief cause of long term sickness absence
Family issues are one of the main causes for long term absence from work, having the same impact as acute medical conditions such as cancer and heart attacks, according to research from industry body Group Risk Development (GRiD).Overall, 18% of businesses questioned claimed family issues were the top reason for ...
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Workplace environment has an impact on staff satisfaction
The physical environment of the workplace has a positive impact on levels of staff satisfaction, according to a survey conducted by Chiswick Park.The West London office park, which houses the European headquarters of Starbucks, Paramount, Discovery, Foxtons and Setanta, surveyed more than 1,000 employees from 25 different organisations.The survey revealed ...
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City bonuses forecast to rise to £6.8 billion
The bonus payout by the City for 2010/11 is forecast to rise to £6.8 billion, up from £6.0 billion in the last fiscal year according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).The CEBR has revised its earlier forecast by £100 million to £6.8 billion due to increased recruitment ...
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Prison van 'smash-and-grab' game launched
Reward professionals who would like nothing more than to shut away irritating colleagues in prison vans are now being offered the chance to do just that.Buckinghamshire-based team-building company Spy Games has launched a mock movie-style mission called The Snatch, in which teams attempt to hold up a prison van to ...
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Clarification on VAT treatment of retail vouchers
The Advocate General has said employers may recover value-added tax (VAT) when it is charged to them on retail vouchers.The Advocate General's Opinion, which the European Court will consider before it gives a final ruling later this year, acknowledged that the European Commission may want to consider whether the UK ...
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A third of European employees are against a rise in national retirement age
A third (29%) of European employees are unhappy with government policy to raise the retirement age in their country, says new research from Aon Consulting.The Aon Consulting European Employee Benefits Benchmark surveyed 7,279 employees across Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. The research ...
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Philip Hutchinson establishes new reward and benefits consultancy
Philip Hutchinson, who was formerly head of corporate self-invested personal pension (Sipp) sales at Pointon York Sipp Solutions, has set up his own consultancy called RePosition.The new consultancy will offer a range of services, including reviews, advice and delivery in the areas of reward and employee benefits to support employers, ...
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DIndividual introduces career reward
Gift and reward organisation DIndividual has introduced a new product that celebrates an employee's entire careerThe reward is a framed print that illustrates the employee's career from writing for the university newspaper at 22 to managing their own team.Gal Katzav, founder and CEO of DIndividual, said: “We wanted to create ...
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Pointon York launches new self invested personal pension
Pointon York Sipp Solutions has launched a new corporate self invested personal pension (Sipp) which offers a greater range of investment options for employees, managers and directors.Created in partnership with Old Broad Street Research (OBSR) and Praemium, the product SelectCSipp has a three-tiered structure.The first tier, features risk profiling, matching ...
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Pay freezes in private sector set to continue
Almost half (48%) of UK organisations have kept pay freezes in place with 52% closing their doors to new recruits, according to research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).CMI’s Economic Outlook, which surveyed 900 chief executives from the private sector, revealed that employers are expecting the economic situation to get ...
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Welsh Assembly Government re-tenders eyecare benefits
The Welsh Assembly Government has re-tendered its corporate eyecare benefits for its 6,500 employees. As a result, the government body selected Specsavers Corporate Eyecare to provide full eye examinations and visual display unit (VDU) glasses, if required, to all staff.The Welsh Assembly Government has held several health fair days for ...
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Energy Fitness Professionals raise money for charity
Members of Energy Fitness Professionals’ corporate fitness centres took part in a week of challenges and events to raise money for Sport Relief.The challenges and events included cake sales, a charity football match, aerobic classes and a hula hoop challenge. The Malvern and Farborough sites competed in a cycling, running ...
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GKN unveils plans to reduce final salary pension deficit
GKN has unveiled a plan to reduce the future funding liabilities of its open defined benefit (DB) pension scheme by an estimated £80 million.The automotive and aerospace parts maker has agreed to create an asset-backed cash payment scheme, which will see £30 million per annum going into the pension fund ...
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Halfords alters cycle-to-work product
Halfords has made changes to its cycle-to-work product, effectively speeding up the process by which employees can register and purchase a new bicycle.Its service will now track applications in real time so that employers can provide their staff with same-day registration, application and letter of collection, which can be taken ...