PM U-turns on plans to scrap 50p tax rate – till 2015 at least
At the same time as the Prime Minister is to drop plans to scrap the 50p rate of income tax, he has also promised to give company shareholders a binding vote on executive pay. According to the Daily Telegraph, David Cameron has come to the conclusion with Chancellor George Osborne that abolishing the tax for […]
Blog: Should banks cut executive pay?
Earlier this month, one of the UK’s most influential shareholder groups, the Association of British Insurers, sent a terse letter to each of the country’s five biggest banks: Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds and Standard Chartered. In the letter, the ABI warns the chairman of each company that it wants to see the end of the […]
Update: High Court bid to stop tube drivers’ strike on Boxing Day
The High Court will hear a legal bid to stop tube drivers from walking out for 24 hours on Boxing Day in a row over pay later today. London Underground claims that only 42% of Aslef ‘s members – the largest tube driver union – voted to go take industrial action and so it is […]
Blog: Doing the festive season on a shoestring
With the recession still in force, many organisations this year will be cost-saving by cutting back on the Christmas celebrations. Asking people to pay for the staff party, or even cancelling it altogether; not putting up a decorated tree; cutting back on Christmas bonuses; these are all difficult decisions facing cash-strapped companies at the moment. […]
Avoiding the hidden cost of Christmas perks
When it comes to indulging in the Christmas spirit, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs is not generally known for its generosity. Indeed, since the 2010 Bribery Act came into force, there have been strict rules and regulations on gift giving, which could see overly-magnanimous companies landed with a hefty tax bill. This means that, […]
Pressure rises on banks for more pay transparency
Any large bank operating in the UK could be forced to disclose the pay packages of its eight highest-paid, non-board level executives in a bid to tackle “unacceptable” bonus levels in the City. The Coalition Government launched a consultation yesterday on the proposed new rules, which would come into force in 2012 in order to […]
Blog: The golden thread – aligning HR and business strategy
I once worked with an organisation that had introduced a Value Chain methodology. So far so good. But they had made the critical error of trying to pigeonhole HR into one of the ‘links’ in the chain, instead of realising that HR is a support function that, by definition, underpins everything that the company does. […]
Making Christmas incentives magic
For many employers knowing what to offer staff as a Christmas incentive can be tricky. Common benefits that are well-received include Christmas hampers, bottles of champagne, wine or chocolates. The popularity of hampers is certainly on the rise, particularly if they cater to a wide range of tastes. But rewards will inevitably have variable […]
Blog: Why there should be an end to end-of-year bonuses
Recognise This! – Bonuses are too often confused with compensation. In my reader just yesterday, I had several articles pop up on bonus compensation plans for the end of the year. At first, I was hopeful. Have organisations finally figured out that lump-sum end-of-year cash bonuses fail on multiple levels and so are turning […]
News Analysis: ‘Glimmers of hope’ for jobs market as incomes set to drop
While there are “glimmers of hope” that the jobs market may revive somewhat over the next year, real household incomes are in contrast expected to fall by 7.4% over the next 36 months. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s JobsOutlook report for November, which is based on a survey of 600 employers, revealed that, although employers […]
Appeal Court ruling on equal pay claims could open floodgates
A landmark Court of Appeal decision could now pave the way for a raft of equal pay claims by both private and public sector workers seeking to pursue compensation. Three appeal judges ruled yesterday that claims made by 174 former female employees of Birmingham City Council could be heard in the High Court as well […]
Round-up of Chancellor’s key Autumn Statement pronouncements
Public sector pay rises are to be capped at 1% for two years, the Chancellor announced today in his Autumn Statement. The cap will follow straight on from a two-year-long pay freeze for public sector workers and is only likely to inflame anger over the Coalition Government’s proposed changes to pensions. Among other things, the […]
Extra holiday or training offer acceptable alternative to pay rise, says study
For those employers that cannot afford to give workers a pay rise this year, an extra day’s holiday or a bit of further training might be a possible alternative. According to an online poll among 2,002 adults undertaken by ICM Research on behalf of the People 1st Training Company, which operates in the hospitality, […]
“Stratospheric” executive pay rises are ‘damaging British business’
“Stratospheric” pay increases that have seen the salaries of top executives at a number of FTSE companies soar by more than 4,000% over the last 30 years are undermining productivity and “damaging” trust in British business. According to a report published by the High Pay Commission following a year-long inquiry, such high growth rates compare […]
Blog: Using the London Olympics as a motivational tool
With less than a year to go before London hosts the largest sporting event in the world, businesses in the UK are now starting to consider ways in which to increase staff motivation during the 2012 Olympics. The recent release of an article from the Telegraph titled ‘Sickies to soar during Games’ not only reiterated […]
Blog: Rewards and recognition – tips for motivating staff on a small budget
Money is tight in today’s economy, but you shouldn’t be draining the bank account to get peak performance even when it’s plentiful. As I’ve written recently, pay-for-performance schemes can be demoralizing and demotivating and are likely to have unexpected consequences. Still, employees are not machines. They’re human beings and need to be motivated. However, some […]
Top exec incomes leap 50% while staff struggle with earnings squeeze
Although renumeration for top executives at large public companies jumped 50% in the last year to £2.7 million, pay deals for the rest of the workforce languished at about half current inflation rates of 5.2%. A report by Incomes Data Services indicated that the huge leap in earnings for directors of FTSE 100 companies meant […]
Blog: How to take the pay issue off the table
Recognise This! – Recognition and rewards cannot replace compensation – it’s an entirely different “currency.” Fellow blogger and Compensation Café founder Ann Bares recently ran a survey looking into what level of pay (or pay increase) would be needed to “take the issue of pay off the table.” This is a highly complex but […]
Pay awards to increase only marginally in 2012
Private sector pay awards will increase only marginally in 2012 when compared to this year, with the most common influences on settlements likely to be company performance and simply the ability to finance them. Research on the intentions of 286 firms employing a total of 800,000 workers revealed that the median award for the year […]
Employers forced to cut pay rises to fund pensions, warns head of NEST
Employers will need to cut pay rises from next year in order to fund plans to automatically enrol the entire workforce in a workplace pension scheme, the head of NEST has warned. Tim Jones, chief executive of the Government’s new pension offering, the National Employment Savings Trust, told the Telegraph that the proposed changes would […]