Pension transition relief: why HR needs to understand it
Pension transitional relief is probably not a phrase that is regularly bandied about in HR circles. But it arguably should, considering the potentially negative impact on senior hires if its not factored into the recruitment process. It could mean the difference between a successful or failed hire. And that, in turn, will inevitably have implications […]
Employee benefits for SMEs: all about the little things
How do small medium enterprises (SMEs) provide a benefits package which is right for their teams, doesn’t break the bank and helps retain their best talent – and why is the right benefits package so important? Is it all about the cash? Working for a company is sometimes just seen as giving over your time […]
Will 2018 be the year for multi-generational flexible benefits?
There can be no doubt that today’s workforce looks and works differently to that of just 10 years ago. For instance, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in workers over 65 remaining in employment – from 5.5% in 1992 to 10% in 2016 – and are now seeing up to four generations in the workplace. From […]
Improving pensions comms: a creative nudge
Last week auto-enrolment hit the ‘1 million-business’ milestone. And with over 9 million UK employees eligible for auto-enrolment it’s time to look at how organisations can effectively communicate updates to pensions regulations to their teams. Let’s start with a little Nudge. The UK’s a long-time believer in Nudge – the theory of positive reinforcement to […]
Global employee benefits: what should international companies be offering their workforce?
As an increasing number of employees live, work and travel abroad, the right employee benefits matter more than ever. This is especially the case as access to local healthcare systems is becoming ever more complicated and restricted, largely due to the burden of ‘the big three’: diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Accordingly, there’s growing recognition that […]
Auto-enrolment: the great British success story. But how do we maintain the momentum?
The pensions experiment launched by the Government nearly six years ago has become a great British success story. Nine million people are now saving into a workplace pension, which in many ways is a huge achievement in combating a looming savings crisis. This month marks a significant milestone in auto-enrolment policy, with the end of […]
Improving pensions engagement: what’s HR’s role in 2018?
One of the growing areas of concern for HR professionals is how financially prepared their employees are for retirement. Typically, lack of employee interest in pensions and savings is a major challenge. HRs face a fresh hurdle this year as the minimum contribution required for qualified schemes s rising from 6 April – a move […]
Benefits uptake: are you doing enough?
Providing employee benefits serves many purposes for organisations including motivation, retention and recruitment of staff. They’re also an important part of building an employee centric culture, where staff feel valued and looked after. There’s plenty of evidence that they matter a great deal to staff too. Research by CV Library shows that 62% of employees […]
Family friendly benefits under threat from new gender pay rules
Despite new rules propelling the gender pay gap into the spotlight, Sodexo Engage’s Iain McMath believes employers must continue to fly the flag for family-friendly benefits to help working parents. The countdown is on; by April, businesses with 250 or more employees will have to publish their gender pay gap in a move that’s likely […]
Pensions communications: change the what, not the how
How can we improve our organisation’s pension communication? The aim of this article is not about making a case for better pension communication. That shouldn’t be difficult. Put simply, from an employer perspective, poor pension communication will make it less likely that members will understand their company’s pension offering. And without understanding, it is unlikely […]
Pensions communication: helping employees differentiate between DC and DB
Pension promises have changed over the last few years. Not many employees are still building up a guaranteed benefit based on a fraction of their salary multiplied by years of service – known as a defined benefit (‘DB’) pension. Most new employees are now automatically enrolled into workplace pension schemes that offer defined contribution (‘DC’) […]
Benefits take-up – the why of getting it right
The employee benefits market in the UK is highly developed. Employees have been getting support with living and welfare costs from their employers since the 1950s and I don’t see it changing. Increasingly, benefits are supplementing or replacing State support which is the most significant macro change in the landscape in recent years. Employee engagement, […]
How and why wellbeing proactivity pays
A proactive approach to employee wellbeing shouldn’t just be for the privileged few, says Courtney Marsh, Commercial Director of Health Shield. No matter the size of your company or budget, it can be a reality for all. Everyone’s talking about wellbeing these days. Yet how many employers are still paying lip-service to it? And how […]
Workplace benefits uptake: map employee lifecycles to benefits
The employee lifecycle typically encompasses attraction and recruitment, onboarding, development, retention and separation – when the employee leaves the organisation. Mapping benefits to employee lifecycles is key to driving uptake, layering on top of that a strategy to match the right benefits to your workforce demographic. But, aside from high profile Silicon Valley tech giants, […]
Employee benefits uptake: why less choice is more
The benefits industry has long held to the mantra that offering more employee choice is the way to deliver better benefits but there’s not much evidence that this, on its own, is the lead factor is employee satisfaction. So it’s worth digging a little deeper and seeing whether choice is always the best thing to […]
Employee benefit uptake: 4 thoughts to better results
It’s February. The “New year, new me” phase is all but a distant memory and fewer and fewer employees are making full use of the onsite staff gym. The free fruit initiative is beginning to ferment and grow fur. Uptake on the EAP is dwindling by the day despite increasing absence figures. Employee benefits are […]
Beyond employee benefits: How to create a culture that sticks
Company culture is a tricky thing. We all agree on its importance yet nobody knows exactly how to cultivate it or even whether it should be cultivated? Should we just let it emerge and develop? Probably not. Developing a clear and consistent company culture is a crucial – and ongoing – task that every business […]
How to build and maintain an effective wellbeing strategy
You will no doubt be familiar with the saying “build it and they will come”. This can work, but in most cases, unless you’ve luckily hit upon a genius solution to a major need (including a need we didn’t know we had – such as the smartphone), it won’t. The simple reason for this is […]
Seven employee benefits that help build resilience
There’s an interesting relationship between stress and productivity. A little stress at work can actually do us good – helping us focus and prepare the body for action. But it can also lead to mistakes, cause difficulty when making decisions and impact our ability to concentrate. There are also physical side effects of stress – […]
Pensions: Is your best and most costly employee benefit your least appreciated?
The government’s recent review of auto-enrolment found that 12 million workers are not placing enough importance on saving for their pensions. When it comes to engagement analysis, the government’s review was particularly enlightening, offering guidance covering ways in which employers can refocus pension engagement strategies to encourage a higher level of adoption and lower level of drop […]