At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 25-31 January 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 25-31 January.
Government to consult on extending discrimination protections for new parents
Employee Benefits: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has today (Friday 25 January 2019) launched a consultation that proposes to extend the current discrimination protections for pregnant women and new parents returning to work. Read Story.
People who experience early redundancy have poor health in later life
Workplace Insight: People who involuntarily lose their job early in their career have poorer health in later life, according to new findings from the University of Kent in the UK and the University of Bamberg in Germany. Read Story.
MPs grill AE providers over performance
Corporate Adviser: MPs have grilled auto-enrolment pension providers over their investment performance, highlighting the poor three-year figures from Now: Pensions, and criticising providers for not focusing more on delivering returns to investors. Read Story.
January blues no more, lighting boosts mood and wellbeing
Onrec: As the January blues well and truly set in, new research has revealed how lighting can have direct impact on mood and wellbeing at home and in the workplace. Read Story.
Sunday fear…do you suffer?
The HR Director: Sunday fear’ kicks in from 1:20pm on Sunday afternoon. Workload, commute and salary are worst things at work. One in five would ‘remove’ a particular colleague if given the choice. Read Story.
New tool measures EAP effectiveness
HR Magazine: A new tool calculating the return on investment (ROI) of employee assistance programmes (EAPs) has been launched, as employers struggle to collect wellbeing data. Read Story.
HR unaware of extent of employees' messaging app use
HR Magazine: Research reveals that frontline staff frequently use messaging apps to communicate about work, leaving organisations vulnerable to regulatory and cyber risks. Read Story.
Savers have accessed £23.6 billion through pension freedoms
Employee Benefits: Retirement savers have accessed approximately £23.6 billion through pension freedoms since reforms were introduced in April 2015, according to data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Read Story.
A third of employers provide financial education in-house
Employee Benefits: EXCLUSIVE: Approximately one-third (35%) of respondents provide financial education via internal departments or resources, according to research by Employee Benefits and Barnett Waddingham. Read Story.
NHS: 1,000 'social prescribers' to ease GP strain
Cover Magazine: Last week it was announced that every GP practice in England is expected to join a primary care network by June under proposals set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. Read Story.
Mental health and MSK among top causes for claims - Unum
Cover Magazine: New claims data from employee benefits provider Unum reflects the focus of the recent NHS Long Term Plan. Read Story.
Most popular day of the week to call in sick revealed
Health Insurance Daily: Wednesday was the most popular day of the week for employees to call into work sick last year, research shows. Read Story.
Rules to stop up to 100,000 people a year losing out on pension income proposed
Business Matters: Measures to boost people’s retirement outcomes – potentially collectively making them up to £25 million per year better off – have been proposed by the City regulator. Read Story.
Families spending at a rate not seen since 2005
Health Insurance Daily: Families in the UK were spending money at a rate not seen since 2005 last year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Read Story.
Scale of pension scams revealed
Corporate Adviser: A number of individuals have lost more than £1m in pension savings, as a result of fraud, according to the latest figures published by The Pensions Regulator. Read Story.
GRid research finds less than 20% of employers proactively tackling stress and mental health
Employer News: New research from Group Risk Development (GRiD), the industry body for the group risk protection sector, reveals that employers are doing little to promote wellbeing among their workforce. Read Story.
Danish study shows positive impact of gender pay gap reporting
Personnel Today: Gender pay gap reporting can help to close the gender pay gap by encouraging organisations to hire more women and speed up their promotion, a study of organisations in Denmark has suggested. Read Story.
New study finds leadership character drives employee motivation and engagement
Incentive & Motivation: A recent study by Dr. Jason Jones and Strata Leadership, LLC, found that employee perception of supervisor character and the character of the organization’s senior leadership is linked to motivation, effort, and engagement at work. Read Story.
Employee happiness depends on benefits and work environment, survey says
Incentive & Motivation: Happiness in the workplace is determined by the amount of satisfaction with compensation, benefits, work environment, and employee value, according to a Comparably report on Thursday. Read Story.
Government and employers unite to kick-start flexible working
Incentive & Motivation: The Flexible Working Task Force, a partnership across government departments, business groups, trade unions and charities, has today launched a campaign to increase the uptake of flexible working. Read Story.
89% of UK workers look for employee benefits before switching company
Incentive & Motivation: Eighty-nine per cent of UK workers claim benefit provision is important in their decision to work for a company, research has revealed. Read Story.
More than half of workers are stressed before even arriving at the office
Incentive & Motivation: More than half (54%) of workers say they frequently arrive for work already stressed, according to a new study by HR software provider CIPHR. Read Story.
Employers prioritise soft skills, flexible work and pay transparency
Personnel Today: Employers consider soft skills – such as creativity and the ability to work under pressure – more important than hard skills, according to LinkedIn’s latest global research into talent trends. Read Story.
Two in five workers ‘very likely’ to look for a new job
Health Insurance Daily: Nearly two out of five workers (38%) are very likely to look for a new job in the next year, while 43% will probably look for a new job, according to research by Unum. Read Story.
Out of time for out of office? 7.5 days of left unused by UK workers
Onrec: The dreary January weather can prompt many workers to dream of sunnier climates and start booking their holidays for the year. However, a new survey by Lee Hecht Harrison Penna, the global human capital consultancy, reveals UK workers are not using up all of their holiday allowance. Read Story.
MPs back proposals to make apprenticeships more flexible for women
London Loves Business: The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) has spent a year working with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Women and Work to determine measures that will help improve women’s experiences during the recruitment process and improve opportunities to progress in the labour market. Read Story.
60 per cent of millennials want salary transparency
London Loves Business: In an increasingly candidate-led market, it’s crucial to appeal to millennials as the generation that will grow from top talent to leaders in the field. Now is the time for recruiters to change their tried and tested tactics or risk losing this dominant sector of the workforce. Read Story.
Parents pushed out of workplace and into self-employment
The HR Director: Close to a quarter of a million self-employed parents admit they started their own business after feeling ‘pushed out’ of their old role after having children – with this issue affecting more women than men. Read Story.
Brexit risk to UK ex-pats’ pensions
Corporate Adviser: Those who have retired to Spain or France could see their pensions frozen as a result of Brexit. The Government has confirmed that these pensions would only be increased on an annual basis if the host countries reciprocate. Read Story.
Birmingham suffers twice as many fatal work accidents than national average
The HR Director: Workers in the city of Birmingham suffer twice as many fatal accidents at work compared to the rest of the country, according to research from payroll and HR expert Moorepay. Read Story.
Working mothers disproportionately more stressed, study claims
Workplace Insight: Biomarkers for chronic stress are 40 percent higher in women bringing up two children while working full-time than for women with no children, new research suggest. Working from home and other forms of flexible working have no effect on their level of chronic stress – only putting in fewer hours at work helps, says an article in the journal Sociology. Read Story.
British employees want flexible working hours and more staff benefits, study claims
Independent: Flexible working hours, bigger pension contributions and extra holiday for long service are amongst top work perks British employees want, according to a survey. Read Story.
The majority of employers do not currently offer a Lisa
Employee Benefits: EXCLUSIVE: Most employers (78%) do not currently offer a Lifetime individual savings account (Lisa), according to research by Employee Benefits and Barnett Waddingham. Read Story.
Nearly a fifth of UK adults unhappy in their job
HR Review: Nearly a fifth (19 percent) of UK adults are unhappy in their job according to a new study. Wrike’s Happiness Index polled 4,000 workers in the US, UK, Germany, and France. The research found that while there is a growing trend for remote working, it is not currently an option for many UK workers. Read Story.
Public sector pension row as Govt pulls plug on revaluation
Corporate Adviser: Government is pausing a planned review of the cost of public sector pension schemes because of a court judgment that could add £4bn a year to its liabilities. Read Story.
9 out of 10 UK office workers lose productivity due to unsatisfying office temperatures
HR Review: As workers across the country make their way through the cold winter months, Workthere conducted new research into the age-old office temperature debate. Read Story.
Working out at desks ‘improves health’
Health Insurance Daily: Have cycling machines or treadmills in front of computers is the best way to be healthy at work, researchers have claimed. Read Story.
Skills gaps crisis widens as employers fail to develop entire workforce
The HR Director: New research published today by leading skills body City & Guilds Group reveals that British workers are being denied critical opportunities to up-skill for the future. Read Story.
53 per cent of Brits make a cuppa while waiting for slow PC
London Loves Business: In true British style, making a cuppa is the most common time filler for Brits waiting for their PC to load, according to a recent survey by Crucial. The survey questioned 2,000 Brits on what they did whilst waiting for their PC to load. Findings reveal that more than half (53%) of Brits make a hot drink, more than a third (37%) go to the loo, and more than a quarter (29%) will sit back and daydream. Read Story.
Most sick days taken in November, not National Sickie Day, Blue Monday – or even in the worst British weather
Employers News: The data, taken from a subset of 500 employers using e-days’ absence management system, shows the day most employees call in sick is the last Monday in November. Last year, 107 employees took unplanned absence on that day, far higher than the 93 who took days off on Blue Monday (third Monday of January) or the 86 on National Sickie Day (first Monday of February). Read Story.
Businesses harmed by poor employee financial wellbeing
HR Grapevine: Almost 19 out of 20 (94%) UK employees are suffering from money worries, with more than three quarters (77%) saying that this impacts them at work, according to new research from Close Brothers. Read Story.