At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 15-21 March 2019
Your quick-read round up of the reward and benefits stories appearing in the press in the past seven days.
The headlines you might have missed between 15-21 March.
Diabetes risk ‘21% higher in women with mentally tiring jobs’
Health Insurance Daily The risk of diabetes is 21% higher among women who have mentally tiring jobs, research suggests. The study of more than 70,000 women took dietary habits into account, meaning the results cannot necessarily be explained by comfort eating. Read Story.
Firms prioritising employee experience and total reward packages to attract talent, says survey
People Management Growing numbers of employers are prioritising employee experience as a way to improve engagement, recruitment and retention, a survey of businesses has found. Read Story.
Carers should receive ‘paid leave and a right to return to work’
Personnel Today: Employees who care for loved ones should receive statutory paid leave and have the right to return to work once their circumstances change. Read Story.
9 in 10 customers cannot define “protection”
Money Marketing: The industry must rethink the language around protection to give better support to intermediaries and boost public awareness, according to Legal and General. Read Story.
More than a third do not have access to a reward and recognition scheme
Employee Benefits: More than a third (36%) of respondents do not have access to a reward and recognition scheme, according to research by employee benefits provider Xexec. Read Story.
Disorderly Brexit – one-in-five blue collar workers could be lost
The HR Director: A ‘disorderly Brexit’ could see the UK suffer a £22 billion reduction in economic output, compared to an ‘orderly Brexit’ – a new study has revealed. Read Story.
Pensions industry must rethink communication strategy to improve engagement
Pensions Age: The pensions industry needs to rethink the way that it communicates with members to improve engagement and help them understand their savings, suggested a panel of experts. Read Story.
Employers can prevent ‘auto-enrolmageddon’ this April with better communications says Punter Southall Aspire
Employer News: Many of the 10 million UK employees currently auto enrolled into a workplace pension will see their take-home pay fall after 6th April 2019 when minimum contribution rates rise. Read Story.
Nearly two-thirds of graduates planning to join the banking sector have experienced mental health issues
HR Review: City Mental Health Alliance (CMHA), an alliance of City businesses aiming to create mentally healthy workplaces, have revealed statistics about the mental health of students and graduates planning to apply for a job within the banking industry in the UK. Read Story.
Brits too afraid to ask for a pay rise, study reveals
HR Grapevine: Broaching the subject of a pay rise isn’t the easiest of tasks for employees, and it seems that almost half of Brits are uncomfortable about asking their employer for a pay rise. Read Story.
Employers confused about group risk products
Corporate Adviser: The industry body – Group Risk Development (Grid) – found that only 27 per cent of employers surveyed identified the correct definition of a GCI as “a policy taken out by an employer to provide a tax-free lump sum to an employee on the diagnosis of one of a defined list of serious conditions or on undergoing one of a defined list of surgical procedures”. Read Story.
Firms failing on women in leadership mentoring
HR magazine: Three-quarters (75%) of female leaders do not believe their organisation runs an effective women in leadership mentoring programme, according to research from Reed. Read Story.
Govt gives go-ahead for CDC schemes
Pensions Age: The government has announced that it will be pushing ahead with the introduction of collective defined contribution (CDC) pension schemes to improve the retirement outcomes for both employees and employers. Read Story.
Greatest motivator for employees is more recognition, whether monetary or not
Workplace Insight: The biggest motivator for staff at work is more recognition, whether monetary or not, according to a new survey on rewards at work by XpertHR. Read Story.
Organisations missing out on ‘pool of talent’ by failing to support neurodivergent employees
People Management: The UK’s employment watchdog Acas has today published employer guidance to help employers better support neurodivergent employees in the workplace. Read Story.
UK at highest employment rate since 1971 says ONS
HR Review: The UK’s jobless rate fell to 3.9 per cent, down from 4 per cent recorded the month before. Those not in employment fell by 35,000 to 1.338 million during the final quarter of the year. Read Story.
Young job candidates prefer the human touch
HR Magazine: Employers risk losing out on talent by being out of touch with the preferences of young people in the recruitment process. Read Story.
Flexible working more important than role prestige and pay
HR Magazine: A third of Brits (30%) say that flexible working is so important they would prioritise it over a more prestigious role. Read Story.
Majority of over 55s unaware of the benefits of using pensions as inheritance
Pensions Age: There is a large divide between advised clients and the wider over 55 population on the awareness of the advantages of leaving pensions as an inheritance, identifying a market opportunity for advisers, new research has found. Read Story.
Top employers’ support for working parents is “invisible”
Personnel Today: A number of employers including Asos, IBM, Lidl and Facebook are completely ‘invisible’ when it comes to publicising their support for working parents, according to new research. Read Story.
People are happier in more beautiful surroundings, study confirms
Workplace Insight: Researchers claim to have provided the first large-scale quantitative evidence that people are happier in more beautiful surroundings. Read Story.
People often feel as if they are kept in the dark about flexible working
Workplace Insight: New research from LinkedIn claims that a third (36 percent) of UK professionals believe their employer does not do enough to support new parents. Read Story.
Demotivated workers would be driven by higher pay and more flexibility
Workplace Insight: Almost a third (31 percent) of UK professionals state that their expectations are ‘not being met at all’ by their current employer, whilst a further 24 percent state that their needs are only just ‘moderately’ being met. Read Story.
Recruiter reminds businesses and candidates to prepare for mininum wage changes
Employer News: Supertemps is encouraging clients and candidates to be aware of the changes. The National Minimum Wage is the lowest wage per hour a worker is entitled to in the United Kingdom. Read Story.
Only a third of advisers comfortable discussing health conditions
Health Insurance Daily: Only a third (34%) of advisers feel very comfortable discussing underlying health conditions with clients, research suggests. Read Story.
Nearly 1 in 10 UK employees work more than 20 extra hours a week
Incentive & Motivation: A recent study conducted by Love Energy Savings discovered that 8% of British employees work a staggering 20 hours or more each week than their contracted hours. Read Story.
Govt should not rush through auto-enrolment hikes
Money Marketing: The government should not introduce any sudden hikes to auto-enrolment contributions as this could make savers uncomfortable. Read Story.
LifeSearch: Brits 'too shy' to talk about death
Cover Magazine: Many Brits (24%) avoid talking to friends, family and colleagues about death even though its financial and emotional impact can be huge, research from LifeSearch has revealed. Read Story.
Unemployment leads young people to value more than pay
Personnel Today: Young people who have had a spell out of work value “intrinsic” aspects of employment such as learning new things or opportunities for self development, according to research from Newcastle University. Read Story.
A third feel that flexible working improves wellbeing during winter
Employee Benefits: EXCLUSIVE: A third (33%) of respondents believe that flexible working is the main method to improve wellbeing during the winter months, according to research by group risk provider Canada Life Group Insurance. Read Story.
More than half of gender pay gaps will worsen this year, data suggests
People Management: Businesses are unprepared for potentially ‘radical’ year-on-year changes to their gender pay gaps, experts have predicted – with warnings they are not using accompanying narratives to contextualise their data. Read Story.
Top reasons employees QUIT their jobs
HR Grapevine: British workers spend an average of 3,515 full days at work over the course of their lifetime. This is whittled down to an average of 34 hours and 26 minutes per week, according to the Accountancy Age Salary Survey 2018. Spending such a significant portion of life at work, it is crucial that employees are happy within their roles and enjoy working for their employer. Read Story.
Performance-based pay linked to employee mental-health problems, study suggests
Workplace Insight: In what its authors claim is the first big-data study combining objective medical and compensation records with demographics, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Aarhus University in Denmark discovered once a company switches to a pay-for-performance process, the number of employees using anxiety and depression medication increased by 5.7 percent over an existing base rate of 5.2 percent. Read Story.
May refuses to budge on SP age increase for women
Pensions Age: Prime Minister Theresa May has refused to budge on the government’s stance on Waspi women, adding that the government has already put extra money in following the increase in women’s state pension age. Read Story.
Pension transfers fall by 20% in Q4 2018
Pensions Age: Pension transfers dropped from £8bn to £6.3bn in Q4 2018, a decrease of 20 per cent, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures. The number is also £4bn down on the £10.3bn transferred in Q4 2017, as the industry sees a slowdown in activity across the board. Read Story.
Employers lack data needed to analyse ethnicity pay gap
Personnel Today: Ninety-five per cent of employers have not analysed their ethnicity pay gap, with many lacking the data that will enable them to do so. Read Story.
Women leaders rely on assistants more than men to manage stress and work-life balance
HR Review: Female business leaders rely more heavily on the support of personal assistants (PAs) or reducing stress and managing work-life balance, according to new research. Read Story.
Two-fifths of women cite money as most important for workplace happiness
Employee Benefits: Just over two-fifths (43%) of UK-based female respondents, and 25% of male respondents, cite money as more important than perks in terms of influencing happiness at work, according to research by work management organisation Wrike. Read Story.
Construction & manufacturing workers top the Workplace Happiness League Table – Retail workers are the least happy
Personnel Today: A new nationwide survey of British workers reveals appreciation is key to the happiness of the nation’s employees with 80% saying that feeling appreciated is important to their happiness at work – ahead of salary (58%) and feeling trusted (55%). Read Story.