At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 10-16 September 2021

Here are the headlines you might have missed between 10-16 September:

Only one in ten believe their workplace displays gender equality
HR Review: This pessimistic outlook comes as many companies are trying to focus on implementing diversity and inclusion strategies in the workplace.  New research carried out by INvolve, a global network and consultancy championing diversity and inclusion, finds that just over one in ten (12 per cent) consider their workplace to display gender equality. Read Story.

Charities urged to act on proposed pension rules changes
Corporate Adviser: Charities are being urged to act soon to avoid the potential pitfalls of new pensions rules. New regulations, expected to come into force in 2022, will significantly change how charities and other employers fund their defined benefit pension schemes.The changes could mean that charities have less time to deal with shortfalls in their pension scheme and will have to increase annual contributions. Read Story.

Drop in number of over 50s in work
Corporate Adviser: The number of over 50s in the workplace has fallen since the start of the pandemic according to new figures from the Department of Work and Pensions. Its figures show the employment rate for those aged between 50 and 64 has fallen from 72.1 per cent in 2020 to 71.2 per cent in 2021. Read Story.

Staff would sacrifice £1,949 from salary for flexibility
Employee Benefits: Workers are willing to sacrifice an average of £1,949 from their salary in exchange for a better work-life balance, according to new research. Job site Indeed surveyed 2,000 employees and found that if those earning the average annual salary of £31,461 gave up £1,949 a year, they would lose 7% of their pay packet. Read Story.

25% of workers do not have a workplace pension
Employee Benefits: A quarter of workers (25%) do not have a workplace pension, with another 5% saying they have no idea whether they have one or not, according to research conducted by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA). Read Story.

PMI work lags with recovery ‘unclear’ as self-pay cases hit record high – Spire
Healthcare & Protection: Spire Healthcare has seen a boom in self-pay patients during the first half of 2021, but private medical insurance (PMI) treatment growth is expected to remain sluggish. Read Story.

27% of retiring staff fail to understand income options
Employee Benefits: More than a quarter (27%) of employees approaching retirement admit that they need help understanding their income options, according to a new survey. Vital Research carried out the study on behalf of financial wellbeing and retirement specialist Wealth at Work, speaking to 1,320 UK employed adults aged over 50, and found that nearly half (46%) said their employer does not provide any support or advice to help them manage their retirement savings. Read Story.

Businesses failing to make gender pay gap action a priority, CMI warns
HR Review: The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) state employers should take urgent action to close the gender pay gap.   New research by the CMI and the EHRC expresses that, moving forward, there is a significant risk that taking action regarding the gender pay gap may become less of a priority for UK businesses. Read Story.

Third sector organisations fail to pay living wage
HR Magazine: Many charities and other third sector institutions are not paying all of their workers above the Living Wage, despite some being set up to help those most in need. Low pay in the third sector has not improved in five years with a fifth (17%) of workers still earning below the living wage. Read Story.

Poll: 90% of employers plan or consider staff pay rise
Employee Benefits: Poll - Nine out of 10 organisations are either planning to give staff a pay rise in 2022 or are considering the option. According to Employee Benefits’ latest research, 43% of employers confirmed they will boost staff pay next year, while another 47% said the strategy was under consideration. Read Story.

Only a third of employers have asked staff if they’re vaccinated
Workplace Insight: As the Government is due to unveil its winter plan for COVID-19 and the ONS confirms employee numbers are back at record levels, according to the latest survey from CV-Library, three-quarters (75.2 percent) of professionals feel employers should be allowed to ask staff if they’re vaccinated against COVID-19. Read Story.

32% of employees have personal finance education
Employee Benefits: 72% of employees don't have access to financial education support. Less than a third of workers (32%) are offered personal finance education as an employee benefit, according to new data. Financial wellbeing platform Nudge Global released its 2021 global report, Disrupting money habits: why it’s time for organisations to break cycles of exclusion, in order to highlight the opportunity and need for employers to better support employees building financial acumen. Read Story.

23% of employees have no pension plan
Employee Benefits: Almost one in four (23%) members of staff have no pension plan in place, despite the requirement for employers to provide and automatically enrol employees on to a scheme. The research has been carried out by HR and payroll services business MHR International to run alongside Pensions Awareness Day taking place on today (15 September). It polled 1,413 UK-based employees and has shown that some of today’s workforce are not prepared for their future. Read Story.

New group champions benefits of more neurodiverse workforce in financial services
Corporate Adviser: A new industry-wide organisation has been launched to champion neurodiversity within the insurance, investment and financial services industry. Gain (Group for Autism, Insurance and Neurodiversity) seeks to create opportunities for autistic and neurodivergent people to engage in rewarding work and to foster employment opportunities within the industry by helping business leaders recognise the benefits of building a diverse workforce. Read Story.

Men lose twice as much money to scammers than women
Corporate Adviser: Men lost more than twice as much money to scammers than women over the last year according to new research from Phoenix Group. Its research found one in five people fell victim to a scam over the past 12 months, with nearly a third (29 per cent) losing money as a result. Men lost an average of £2,780 each, while women lost £1,133. Read Story.

Gender divide seen in confidence about retirement plans
Corporate Adviser: Men are far more confident about their retirement plans than women according to research by Canada Life. Its research found that almost two thirds (64 per cent) of men who had received financial advice were confident they would be able to retire at their planned retirement age. This compares to just one in two women (53 per cent). Read Story.

Return to pre-Covid norms puts additional strain on workers’ financial wellbeing
Corporate Adviser: Two thirds of UK workers say that since lockdown ended they are now wasting an additional £100 a week on ‘unnecessary luxuries’, which is potentially damaging their financial wellbeing. Despite this over a third of workers said their financial health had improved during the course of Covid-19. However reliance on high-cost credit for basic purchases is still high among workers of all ages across the UK. Read Story.

Employees more tolerant about religion than general public
HR Magazine: Employees are more likely to show tolerance and understanding of religious beliefs than the general population, according to new research. Education charity Culham St Gabriel’s Trust found that 63% of employees think it is important to understand a colleague's religious beliefs, compared with 61% of the general population. Read Story.

Labour pledges to reform sick pay and ban zero-hours contracts
HR Magazine: Labour’s promise to extend and increase sick pay to all workers has been welcomed by unions and charities. In a speech to this year’s TUC Congress, Labour leader Keir Starmer also promised a ban on zero-hours contracts and an increase in day-one rights for workers. Read Story.

Working parents state childcare policies are “failing” them
HR Review: Working parents are at risk of poor financial and mental wellbeing after thousands have reported that childcare policies are leaving them financially crippled.  In a mass survey conducted by various parenting and campaign groups, the vast majority of working parents (97 per cent) felt childcare was too expensive. Read Story.

Ethnicity pay gap reporting should be made mandatory from 2023, urge CIPD
HR Review: This move, the body argues, will help to bolster workplace equality and create consistency of disclosures among organisations. The professional body for Human Resources and People Development, the CIPD, have called for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting to apply to all large employers from 2023. Read Story.

Counselling shown to be UK’s most popular benefit
HR Review: New research shows that nine in ten businesses (89 per cent) offer counselling as part of their reward strategy, making it the most popular benefit to provide among UK organisations. In fact, counselling itself has become more popular among UK businesses, with the number of organisations offering the service rising slightly last year, and it is currently 14 per cent higher than it was in 2019. Read Story.

PwC reveal that working class employees are paid 12 per cent less
HR Review: According to new data released by the professional services firm, the median pay gap for staff from a lower socio-economic background stood at 12.1 per cent.  PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the Big Four accounting firms, has revealed that under 15 per cent of its employees come from a lower socio-economic background. Read Story.

Employee and employer ‘lethargy’ preventing pension saving
Corporate Adviser: Lethargy is stopping many employees from saving more for their retirement while the majority of employers admit they could do more to support employee financial wellbeing regarding pensions. Read Story.

PASA support for AE ‘statement season’
Corporate Adviser: The Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) has backed plans to introduce an “statement season” for auto-enrolment pension savings. The body had set up a benefits statements working group to look at these government proposals. Publishing its first report on this issue it said it supported the concept, but there needed to be careful consideration of a number of issues, including whether there was a common valuation date and potential technological implications, particularly in relation to the pensions dashboard. Read Story.

Employees struggling to keep on top of bills
HR Magazine: A report published yesterday shows more people are applying for high-cost credit cards and struggling to make ends meet with spending rising sharply as the UK emerges from the pandemic. Read Story.