At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 4-12 January 2017
The headlines you might have missed between 4-12 January 2017
Gender pay gap increases as women enter their 30s
Employee Benefits: The gender pay gap for female millennials, born between 1981 and 2000, rises from 5% in their 20s to 9% at the age of 30, according to research by the Resolution Foundation. Read story
Xerox HR Services becomes Conduent HR Services
Employee Benefits: Xerox HR Services has become Conduent HR Services following the separation of business process services organisation Conduent and technology organisation Xerox. Read story
Average salary for newly qualified London lawyers rises to £65,000
Employee Benefits: The average salary for newly qualified London-based lawyers who work in commercial practice increased from £53,000 a year in 2013 to £65,000 in 2016, according to research by BCL Legal Recruitment. Read story
Treasury neglects pensions in 'ways to save' poster
Professional Pensions: The government has been criticised for excluding pensions from a poster which aims to inform the public on the various savings vehicles available. Read story
DB transfer values soar 15% over 2016
Professional Pensions: Defined benefit (DB) transfer values rose by £31,000 over 2016 thanks to a fall in gilt yields, according to Xafinity's monthly index. Read story
Transfer heaven or transfer hell?
Professional Pensions: Henry Tapper discusses the highs and lows of DB transfers. Read story
Steve Webb and Charles Counsell praised for AE work in New Year's Honours
Professional Pensions: Former pensions minister Steve Webb as well as The Pensions Regulator's (TPR) Charles Counsell and Andrew Young have been honoured in the 2017 New Year's Honours list. Read story
Article 50 ‘driving rush to QROPS’ – deVere
Corporate Adviser: The imminent triggering of Article 50 – the official start of the UK’s divorce proceedings from the EU – is helping to drive a rush to transfer UK final salary pensions into overseas schemes, a global financial adviser claims. Read story
Royal Mail provides support for staff going through relationship breakdowns
Employee Benefits: The Dialogue First pilot initiative, which launched in September 2015, provides staff with a free 30-minute legal consultation with the aim of pursuing lawyer-supported mediation where appropriate. Read story
Confederation of British Industry offers London rental deposit scheme to staff
Employee Benefits: The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) introduced a London rental deposit loan scheme for its employees in February 2015 in order to help staff with the cost of housing in the capital. Read story
Aldi to increase minimum pay to £8.53 an hour
Employee Benefits: Supermarket Aldi is to increase its minimum rate of pay for UK staff to £8.53 an hour from 1 February 2017. Read story
District of Columbia passes paid family leave bill
Employee Benefits: Councillors in the District of Columbia (DC), Washington, have passed a bill that provides eight weeks of paid parental leave for private sector employees who work DC. Read story
FTSE 350 defined benefit pension deficit reaches £137bn
Employee Benefits: The accounting deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes for the UK’s largest 350 organisations increased from £39 billion at the end of 2015 to £137 billion at the end of December 2016, according to research by Mercer. Read story
Government appoints first director of labour market enforcement
Employee Benefits: Sir David Metcalf has been appointed the government’s first director of labour market enforcement, tasked with overseeing initiatives and bodies that counteract exploitation in the workplace. Read story
Plans to reform nuclear sector pensions get union backlash
Professional Pensions: Plans to reform pensions across the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to bring them in line with public sector changes are being opposed by trade unions. Read story
PIC completes £190m buyout with GKN Group
Professional Pensions: The Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) and GKN Group have approved a £190m buyout in one of the first de-risking deals of 2017. Read story
Royal Mail launches consultation on DB closure
Professional Pensions: Royal Mail has started a formal consultation process on closing its "unaffordable" defined benefit (DB) scheme to future accrual from April 2018. Read story
Checklist: what to expect in 2017
Reward Guide: There are many changes coming into force through the year. Helen Swire outlines the most notable developments. Read story
62% are unsatisfied with their benefits package
Employee Benefits: Almost two thirds (62%) of employee respondents are unsatisfied with their benefits package, according to research by GCS Recruitment. Read story
44% view a good benefits package as an important quality in a prospective employer
Employee Benefits: More than four in 10 (44%) respondents cite a good benefits package as one of the most important qualities they look for in a new employer, according to research by Investors in People. Read story
Plumbers' pension plight needs urgent government action
Professional Pensions: Section 75 debt regulation is inadvertently causing huge financial distress for employers in the industry-wide plumbers' scheme. After years of inaction the government must urgently find a solution, writes Stephanie Baxter. Read story
EU extends clearing exemption for pension funds until August 2018
Professional Pensions: Pension funds have been given extra time to prepare for potentially onerous rules requiring their over-the-counter (OTC) derivative transactions to be centrally cleared. Read story
PM launches workplace mental health review
Corporate Adviser: The Prime Minister has ordered a review of mental health in the workplace looking at ways employers can support employees with mental health issues. Read story
Fears grow over competing Lisa and pension
Corporate Adviser: A unified pension system with Isa features for younger savers should replace the current structure of pensions competing alongside the soon to be launched Lifetime Isa, says Aon. Read story
Tribunal rules CitySprint courier is entitled to workers’ rights
Employee Benefits: The London Central Employment Tribunal has ruled that a bicycle courier for logistics organisation CitySprint is a worker, and is therefore entitled to benefits such as holiday pay. Read story
Mobile Mini launches employee engagement programme
Employee Benefits: Portable accommodation and storage organisation Mobile Mini has launched an employee engagement programme for its UK-based staff, which includes access to voluntary benefits and a recognition scheme. Read story
Holidays, food and experiences - best ways to reward fun-loving Millennials
HR Grapevine: Generation Y, or ‘Millennials’, are some of the most tracked and surveyed spenders, and data shows that the spending behaviours of this generation are vastly different to previous ones. Read story
TPR fines first master trusts for chair's statement failures
Professional Pensions: The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has reaffirmed its determination to ensure trustees demonstrate good governance by fining four master trust schemes for not completing a chair's statement. Read story
Firms need extra £10bn cash per year to plug 2016's DB deficit increase
Professional Pensions: Companies will need to set aside an extra £10bn every year for the next decade in order to fix the growth in defined benefit (DB) deficits over 2016, according to PwC. Read story
Small firms boosting AE pots with above-minimum contributions
Professional Pensions: Over a third of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have already staged for auto-enrolment (AE) are contributing more than the statutory minimum. Read story
Norton Rose Fulbright engages employees with reward and benefits platform
Employee Benefits: In 2016, Norton Rose Fulbright focused its benefits strategy towards creating a proposition that engages all employees. Read story
British Airways mixed fleet cabin crew strike in dispute over pay
Employee Benefits: British Airways (BA) mixed fleet cabin crew employees who are members of the trade union Unite are striking in a dispute over pay. Read story
24% provide staff with access to bereavement helplines
Employee Benefits: Less than a quarter (24%) of employer respondents provide staff with access to bereavement helplines through their employee benefits provider, according to research by MetLife Employee Benefits. Read story
Barclays tells KWM to cancel all salaries with immediate effect
The Lawyer: King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) employees in London have expressed anger at the firm’s management for going back on a promise to pay staff weekly in January. Read story
Tesco's employee 'health pledge' met with scepticism
People Management: A healthcare initiative from Tesco inviting employees at its 2,600 stores to pledge to improve their fitness, sleep quality and diet has been met with staff scepticism. Read story
Government to implement FCA's cost transparency proposals
Professional Pensions: Pensions minister Richard Harrington has said the government will work with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to improve transparency of pension costs. Read story
ONS: Boom decade for pensioners as workers stay poorer
Corporate Adviser: Pensioners have seen their incomes increase by 13 per cent over the last decade, while non-retired households have suffered a 1.2 per cent real terms fall, new figures from the ONS show. Read story
Nick Boyton: GIP – incentives or employee demand?
Corporate Adviser: NI incentives will help to boost group income protection, but improving employee awareness of the value of the benefit will be key says Broadstone risk and flexible benefits client relationship director Nick Boyton. Read story
Call for co-operation on pension dashboard data-sharing
Corporate Adviser: The industry must cooperate on data sharing standards if it is to meet the Government’s March 2017 deadline for a pensions dashboard prototype, one of the tech firms appointed to build it has said. Read story
Employees open to wearable monitoring at work
Corporate Adviser: More than half of British workers would monitor their health with technology at work if their employer supplied a device to do so, but only 5 per cent have already been given health tech, new research has found. Read story
Tribunal rules CitySprint courier is entitled to workers’ rights
Employee Benefits: The London Central Employment Tribunal has ruled that a bicycle courier for logistics organisation CitySprint is a worker, and is therefore entitled to benefits such as holiday pay. Read story
25% believe money worries affect their ability to do their job
Employee Benefits: A quarter (25%) of employee respondents with money problems feel that this affects their ability to do their job, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Close Brothers Asset Management. Read story
ABI publishes principles on GP medical requests
Professional Adviser: The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has published guidelines on electronic paperless requests for medical information from GPs that insurers need when providing protection insurance. Read story
Pension funds join forces in major climate change initiative
Professional Pensions: Some of the UK's biggest pension schemes have co-founded an initiative to better understand how the transition to a low carbon economy affects their investments. Read story
Top 10 lame excuses for not paying the minimum wage
Personnel Today: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released 10 of the worst excuses for not paying the national minimum wage, as the Government launches a £1.7 million awareness campaign to help workers understand how much pay they are entitled to. Read story
UKTV engages staff with annual business objectives to boost motivation
Employee Benefits: UK television broadcaster UKTV boosts employee motivation in January by engaging staff with the organisation’s brand identity and sharing leadership goals for the year ahead. Read story
Charles Cotton: Combine extrinsic and intrinsic reward to create a tailored motivation strategy
Employee Benefits: There are a number of ways organisations can boost motivation. One is to use extrinsic rewards, such as pay. A simple example is that employees are motivated to sell more by being offered a financial incentive, such as commission. Read story
Financial decisions made simple
Reward Guide: Having lots of savings options is great – if people understand them. Helen Swire asks how employers can ensure their staff know what they’re doing with their money. Read story
TPR bares its teeth with first mastertrust fines
Pensions Expert: The Pensions Regulator has imposed its first fines against mastertrusts for failing to complete a chair’s statement, as it signals a hard approach to dealing with defined contribution administration lapses. Read story
31% believe their employer does enough to support mental health and wellbeing
Employee Benefits: Less than a third (31%) of respondents say that their employer does enough to support employee wellbeing and mental health, according to research by workplace consultancy Peldon Rose. Read story
55% will stay with an employer due to pensions provision
Employee Benefits: More than half (55%) of respondents who receive a workplace pension that will provide them with a comfortable retirement income say this is a key reason to stay with their current employer rather than look for a new position, according to research by Reed. Read story
Civil Aviation Authority enters £90m buy-in with PIC
Professional Pensions: Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has completed a £90m buy-in deal for the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) defined benefit (DB) scheme. Read story