At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week
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 1-7 July
Brexit vote is poor outcome for UK, says industry
Professional Pensions: Over two thirds (67%) of 200 respondents surveyed by Pensions Buzz believe Britain has made an error in voting to leave the European Union (EU). Read story
Galliford Try completes £95m buy-in with Just Retirement
Professional Pensions: The £95m buy-in covered all pensions in payment for the FTSE 250 housebuilding and construction business, representing 43% of the scheme's liabilities. Read story
68% offer counselling as a wellbeing benefit
Employee Benefits: More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents offer access to counselling services or an employee assistance programme (EAP), according to research by Employee Benefits and Xerox HR Services. Read story
44% of employees are happy with their benefits package
Employee Benefits: Less than half (44%) of employees are happy with the benefits they receive, a drop from 53% last year, according to research by Willis PMI Group. Read story
92% feel job security is important
Employee Benefits: The majority (92%) of respondents believe that job security is important, although only 65% of employees feel that their current job offers them this, according to research by NatCen. Read story
Becoming employee-owned: Why and how to do it
HR Magazine: On national Employee Ownership Day, Agilisys' HRD explains the company’s decision to move to this business model. Read story
Secondary annuity market ‘likely first casualty of Brexit overload’
Corporate Adviser: Policymaking is largely on pause as Brexit overload burdens Whitehall – the secondary annuity market looks likely to be the first casualty, reports John Greenwood. Read story
Sports Direct: Rogue employer or tip of the iceberg?
HR Magazine: Sports Direct has been accused of ‘gulag-like’ conditions. But are such practices actually more widespread? Read story
West Midlands saves £25m with in-house mandate
Pensions Expert: The West Midlands Pension Fund has found savings of more than £25m a year after a swath of changes to its investments and a two-pronged strategy to reduce administration costs. Read story
Proposed trusteeship diploma gets mixed response
Pensions Expert: The Pensions Management Institute and the Association of Professional Pension Trustees have announced the launch of a joint consultation to introduce a Diploma in Pension Trusteeship to improve trustee education and standards of scheme governance. Read story
CEO pays for employees' weddings
Reward Guide: The CEO and co-founder of Boxed has offered to pay for staff weddings up to $20,000. Read story
In the ‘Pensions World’ three years is a long time…
Reward Guide: Paul Nelson, Broadstone, examines what employers should be reviewing as they reach re-enrolment. Read story
Brecon Carreg, Majestic Wine and TSB commit to living wage
Employee Benefits: Brecon Carreg, Majestic Wine and TSB (pictured) have committed to paying staff the Living Wage Foundation’s voluntary living wage rate. Read story
FTSE 350 pension deficit hits £119bn after Brexit vote
Employee Benefits: The accounting deficit for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes for the UK’s 350 largest listed organisations rose to £119 billion at the end of June 2016, according to research by Mercer. Read story
Saying ‘no’ to holiday requests
People Management: How clear procedures can make difficult conversations easier. Read story
Visualsoft focuses on employee happiness via online survey
Employee Benefits: Web development organisation Visualsoft uses a number of ways to measure employee engagement. The main method is an online weekly micro-survey. Read story
Cathy Brown: Employee engagement enables growth of individuals and organisations
Employee Benefits: We all get more out of going to work if the organisations we work for have an engaging culture, a philosophy that there is a ‘better way to work’. Read story
You might have changed your default strategy, but have scheme members?
Pensions Expert: Consumer group Which? recently questioned whether – following the pension reforms – it is still appropriate for workplace customers to remain in default strategies targeted at annuities. As ever there is no black and white answer. Read story
Pensions Regulator steps in over ‘worrying’ £6m investment scheme
Money Marketing: The Pensions Regulator has stepped in to protect £5.8m of pension savings transferred into a scheme with risky investments which pays unregulated introducers up to 30 per cent commission. Read story
Employers using ‘scandalous’ methods to avoid paying national living wage
People Management: Lowest-paid workers thousands of pounds worse off, says Dispatches; HR consultancy warns employers targeting over-25s for lay-offs. Read story
SPP: Helping to rebuild trust in pensions
Professional Pensions: SPP president Hugh Nolan tells Helen Morrissey how the body can provide a truly independent voice to help the industry navigate through difficult times. Read story
TTF: Managers ‘lying’ about costs and charges
Professional Pensions: The Transparency Task Force (TTF) has accused the financial services industry of “obfuscation, denial and even lying” over costs and charges incurred by pension schemes. Read story
Fried chicken opt-out nudge from Now: Pensions
Corporate Adviser: Milliennials in a fried chicken outlet are asked to forego chips today for a reward in the future in a new member nudge video from Now: Pensions. Read story
Washington DC legislates for $15 minimum wage
Employee Benefits: The US District of Columbia (Washington DC) is to raise the minimum wage to $15 (£11.42) an hour by 2020. Read story
Only one in five Brits has income protection
Health Insurance Daily: Half would accept better benefits instead of higher wages. Read story
Increased life expectancies radically redefine life stages
HR Magazine: At a HR magazine event the authors of The 100 Year Life described the demise of 'the three-stage life’. Read story
Ricoh UK sees 1,000 requests for follow-on financial education workshops since scheme launch
Employee Benefits: Ricoh UK has seen its employees request some 1,000 financial education follow-on workshops since the launch of its financial awareness programme. Read story
BA misses valuation deadline as conflict with trustees drags on
Professional Pensions: British Airways (BA) has failed to meet a deadline for agreeing a way to plug its deficit due to a legal dispute with trustees over pension increases for retirees. Read story
Altmann: NPA situation is ‘an outrage that needs to be addressed’
Professional Pensions: Pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann has pledged to work on net pay arrangements (NPA) that cut lower earners’ pension contributions by up to 25%. Read story
Altmann: DC needs to take lead from DB with illiquid assets
Professional Pensions: Defined contribution (DC) schemes need to take a lead from defined benefit (DB) counterparts when looking to include illiquid assets. Read story
How to reassure staff after the Brexit vote
Personnel Today: There’s no doubt that the Brexit vote sent shockwaves through workplaces across the UK, whichever side staff voted. Some employers have emailed workers to offer reassurance, but is this the best or only way to support staff during this period of uncertainty? Read story
DWP eyes radical overhaul of Nest
Money Marketing: The Government is planning to allow national pension scheme Nest to offer its own in-house retirement products and remove restrictions on who can join. Read story
Inside the defaults: Nearly four years on, how are auto-enrol funds working?
Money Marketing: Pension providers’ defaults funds are coming under growing scrutiny as Money Marketing research reveals the investment performance of millions of first-time savers. Read story
One walking meeting a week ‘could transform employees’ health’
Health Insurance Daily: Activity counters negative health effects of sedentary behaviour. Read story
69% use annual employee surveys to measure engagement
Employee Benefits: More than two-thirds (69%) of employer respondents who measure employee engagement use annual employee surveys to do so, according to research by Employee Benefits and Xerox HR Services. Read story
Bank of America Merrill Lynch expands return-to-work programme
Employee Benefits: After seeing almost 200 participants take part in its Returning Talent programme in London, the scheme is now open to applicants in Chester. Read story
7% would opt out of workplace pension in favour of Lifetime Isa
Employee Benefits: Just 7% of respondents would stop saving into a workplace pension upon the introduction of the Lifetime individual savings account (Lisa), according to research by Fidelity International. Read story
DB Taskforce blames de-risking for inter-generational wealth transfer
Professional Pensions: The de-risking phenomenon is drying up long-term investment in younger generations as companies are forced to put more into defined benefit (DB) schemes, according to Ashok Gupta. Read story
Triple lock most likely pension policy to fall under Brexit
Professional Pensions: The triple lock on the state pension is the most likely policy to be dropped as a result of Brexit according to 42% of 138 Pensions Buzz respondents. Read story
Increased workload making Brits bad parents
Reward Guide: New research has found that over half of British workers’ personal lives are negatively affected by work. Read story
DB transfer values soar post-Brexit
Corporate Adviser: Transfer values are now 4 per cent higher than the highest reading ever seen on Xafinity Transfer Value Index, back in 2015. Read story