All Employee Benefits articles in Web Issue – Page 749
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ArticleGrandparents take sick leave to care for grandchildren
Some 14% of respondents have taken time off work through annual or sick leave, reduced their working hours or given up a job to provide childcare for their grandchildren, according to research by Grandparents Plus, Save the Children, and The Family and Childcare Trust.The Time to care: generation generosity under ...
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ArticleOscar Mayer re-engages staff with cash plan
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar Mayer is re-engaging employees in its health cash plan following 10 years with its provider Bupa.At the end of July, the food manufacturer ran promotional campaigns and competitions for staff across its three sites in Kent, North Wales and Somerset to boost engagement. Some 85% of its 1,600 ...
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VideoVIDEO: Sarah Purnell: Changing workplace demographic needs more choice
The key to designing a benefits package for a changing workplace demographic is to give employees choice, said Sarah Purnell, head of UK reward and benefits at Tesco in an interview with Debbie Lovewell-Tuck, deputy editor of Employee Benefits.She said: “It’s a mixture of the package itself and giving people ...
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ArticleCosts and charges top driver of pension provider selection
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of pension scheme members cited the level of costs and charges as the most important factors for employers when choosing a pension provider, according to research by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).Its What do pension scheme members expect of how their savings are invested? research, ...
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ArticleWhat are collective defined contribution pension schemes?
New definitions will be added to the current legislative framework for CDC schemes to provide a wider choice of pension schemes, encourage greater risk and enable savers to have more certainty about their retirement savings. CDC schemes were first suggested in the government’s consultation paper, Reshaping workplace pensions for future ...
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AnalysisJonathan Watts-Lay: A new compulsion
The Budget changed the face of retirement options for members of defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, with perhaps the most radical pension proposals of our lifetime.The changes have far-reaching consequences for employers, employees and pension trustees alike and introduce a level of flexibility and choice in a way that DC ...
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ArticleFamily-friendly policies more likely where employers consult unions
Family-friendly and equal opportunity policies are more likely to be adopted by organisations that consult or negotiate with unions, according to a report by Warwick Business School and Cass Business School.The Unions, joint regulation and workplace equality policy and practice in Britain paper, which surveyed 2,295 UK workplaces, was published ...
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AnalysisWhere does responsibility for default pension investments lie?
If you read nothing else, read this …The primary responsibility for a defined contribution pension default fund strategy lies with the sponsoring employer.Employer responsibility is particularly important for contract-based schemes even though the employer role is implied.A board of trustees will have responsibility for the default investment in trust-based schemes.Employees ...
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ArticlePregnant Workers Directive proposals to be withdrawn
The European Commission is to withdraw its proposals to amend the Pregnant Workers Directive. Changes to the directive, which were announced in 2008, would have increased the minimum period of maternity leave across Europe from 14 to 18 weeks, and then to 20 weeks’ fully-paid maternity leave.It would have also ...
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ArticleTelegraph Media Group engages pension members
Nearly two-thirds (60%) of Telegraph Media Group’s pension members said they would not have contributed additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) to their pension if it had not been for personalised communications about the option.In February 2014, the newspaper group sent out a personalised newsletter to the 1,000 members of its trust-based ...
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ArticleNorton Rose Fulbright extends policies for working parents
EXCLUSIVE: Norton Rose Fulbright has extended its parental policies for its 1,100 UK-based employees.The law firm has simplified its parental policies and made sure they are consistent for all of its lawyers and service staff. All female employees are now entitled to 28 weeks maternity leave at full pay.Sacha de ...
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ArticleGovernment sets out plans for guidance guarantee
The government has announced that its guaranteed guidance on pensions choice will be provided by independent organisations rather than pension providers.The changes, which were announced in the Budget in March and will come into effect from April 2015, follow the government’s consultation on how best to deliver the changes to ...
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ArticleHealth Management to run Health and Work Service
The government has appointed occupational health provider Health Management to deliver its new Health and Work Service after a five-month tendering exercise.The Health and Work Service, which is to be launched in late 2014 with a phased roll out until the end of May 2015, aims to help employees on ...
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ArticleDuncan Brown: The best benefit is training and development
Last month I wrote about Professor Jules Goddard’s award-winning research calling for “bolder investments and higher costs” to provide a sustainable basis for our economic recovery. But, particularly in low-paying and labour-intensive industries, how can you possibly increase your pay and benefits costs and stay in business?Two reports out last ...
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ArticleInterview with John Mayor, head of UK rewards and HR project management at Danone
Mayor has always believed in the virtues of developing specialisms in many different professional areas, and it was this ambition that led him into the world of HR and reward three years ago.Since joining Danone in 1998, Mayor has held a variety of roles, including sales, customer service, supply and ...
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Article59% used benefits platform to manage pensions auto-enrolment
Nearly two-thirds (59%) of respondents used a benefits platform to manage auto-enrolment, according to research by JLT Employee Benefits.Its latest JLT 250 Club survey found that 67% of respondents said their view of how benefits platforms can be used had changed following auto-enrolment.More than half (51%) of respondents currently provide ...
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ArticleIndividual savings account allowance rises to £15,000
The annual individual savings account (Isa) allowance will increase to £15,000 from today (1 July 2014).The increase, which was announced in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget in March, allows staff transferring exercised shares into an Isa from a maturing employee share scheme to protect more of their gains over the tax-free ...
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ArticleGroup risk report 2014
Read the digital edition of the Employee Benefits/Friends Life Group risk report 2014The report includes the following articles:David Williams: Workplace support for cancer sufferers is keyGroup risk in numbersWhat role do group risk benefits have in financial, mental and physical wellbeing?How group risk insurances must adapt to an ageing workforceTop ...
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AnalysisThe top six myths about group risk benefits
If you read nothing else, read this …Legislative changes in recent years have simplified group risk benefits provision.Industry trends, such as lump-sum payouts for life assurance, are reducing employers’ costs.Group income protection is more than just a disability benefit.But growth in the provision of group risk benefits must be coupled ...