At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 23-29 April 2021
Here are the headlines you might have missed between 23-29 April 2021.
Pandemic drives shift in attitudes to sustainability
Workplace Insight: The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated consumers focus on sustainability and willingness to pay out of their own pockets – or even take a pay cut – for a sustainable future, according to a new IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) survey of over 14,000 consumers in nine countries. Read Story.
UK workers show mixed feelings towards changes to workplace technology
HR Review: According to a new survey, three in 10 workers were left feeling frustrated by changes to workplace technology, which were spurred on by COVID-19. New research by Citrix has revealed that, despite the pandemic speeding up digital transformation, a significant proportion of employees were not pleased with these new changes to workplace technology. Read Story.
Experts express concern as government announces reintroduction of in-person right to work checks
People Management: Employers will have to return to conducting in-person right to work checks in May, the government has announced, as allowances made at the start of the coronavirus pandemic come to an end. Read Story.
Wellbeing benefits boost business performance says new research
Engage Employee: New research by Aon has categorically linked employee wellbeing benefits with increased business performance. According to data from the global professional services firm’s 2021 Global wellbeing survey, companies that improve their employee wellbeing performance also see a 1% rise in customer satisfaction and retention. Read Story.
Furloughing employees risks fracturing the workforce
HR Magazine: HR teams must be aware placing employees on the furlough scheme for long periods of time risks causing fractures in the workforce. The UK government’s furlough scheme has had a severe negative impact on workers as wellbeing, job satisfaction and personal confidence have all significantly decreased since the scheme was introduced. Read Story.
Employees go underappreciated in pandemic
HR Magazine: Employees are dissatisfied with the amount of employer recognition they are getting during the pandemic. On 4 April 2021, HR magazine asked our LinkedIn followers if they felt their employer has recognised the extra effort they have been putting into their work during the pandemic. Read Story.
61% of employers do not monitor wellbeing strategies
Employee Benefits: Employee Benefits poll: As the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to reverberate across the workforce, three in five employers are not monitoring the impact of their wellbeing initiatives on staff productivity, retention, and engagement. Read Story.
Nearly half to boost healthcare provision as pandemic eases
Occupational Health & Wellbeing: Nearly half of organisations expect to expand their healthcare benefits – especially telehealth offerings – due to longer NHS waiting lists. With nearly three-quarters (72%) of employers expecting delays to NHS treatment to continue, 46% said they would need to expand their own healthcare coverage, according to Willis Towers Watson. Read Story.
Older workers face ‘double whammy’ prospect of lower pay
Engage Employee: Older workers are facing a double-whammy impact of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic by not only being more likely to lose their jobs in the first place, but also being forced to accept lower pay when they do find work. This is the conclusion of a new report, A u-shaped crisis, by the Resolution Foundation. Read Story.
Half of employers would consider CDC retirement options
Corporate Adviser: There is growing support among employers and pension professionals for new collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes. Research by Aon found that almost four out 10 (38 per cent) of employers would consider a scheme for building pension benefits, and almost half would consider offering a CDC to DC scheme members at retirement. Read Story.
Campaigners urge government to scrap shared parental leave
Personnel Today: A group of campaigners and unions has called for the government to scrap its shared parental leave policy, urging it to reform parental leave in the Employment Bill later this year. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said it was crucial to “urgently overhaul the parental leave system, not just tinker around the edges”. Read Story.
'Corporate noise' obfuscating understanding of employee benefits
Cover magazine: Information overload and ineffective communication identified as main barriers to understanding and engagement, L&G survey shows. The survey, conducted by Opinium in December 2020, of 1,087 UK employees who have access to either income protection, critical illness cover or an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), found that a key reason why employees do not feel engaged with their group protection policies is that many feel besieged by the wider corporate ‘noise'. Read Story.
Two in five employers not addressing presenteeism
Personnel Today: Nearly four in five employers report that staff have been working at home while unwell over the past year, but two in five aren’t taking any steps to address the issue. According the annual CIPD and Simplyhealth Health and wellbeing at work report, 84% of employers have observed “presenteeism” during the pandemic: 75% saw this in the workplace and 77% at home. Read Story.
Mutual trust between managers and staff boosts performance
Personnel Today: Organisations with a high level of trust between management and employees are more likely to perform well financially and productively, according to a study. Durham University Business School and the University of Coimbra in Portugal found that a strong sense of trust in the management-employee relationship also correlated with higher levels of productivity and greater feelings of harmony and understanding among the workforce. Read Story.
Four in five workers feel that their office will be safe on return
HR Review: According to research carried out by Aviva, employees generally have a feeling of optimism about returning to the workplace although there are still some areas of concern which persist. A new survey by Aviva has shown that workers are feeling more optimistic about the return to work following the vaccine roll-out and widespread COVID testing. Read Story.
Half of employers are failing to comply with recent sick pay legislation
HR Review: GRiD, the industry body for the group risk protection sector, has warned that many employers are falling foul of sick pay legislation instated last year. New research has revealed that one in two employers still need to comply with new legislation linked to sick pay which was introduced in 2020. Read Story.
Pregnancy loss policy introduced for Channel 4 employees
HR Review: This comes just weeks after New Zealand approved a law which allowed employees paid time off after experiencing a miscarriage. The news channel, Channel 4, has announced the introduction of a Pregnancy Loss policy, intended to support staff who are experiencing the loss of an unborn child. Read Story.
Pay and reward’s leading lights to be unveiled this June
Reward Strategy: The celebratory event that reveals the leading lights across pay, reward and the associated sectors will take place the second day of the CPD-accredited conference, on June 23 at a London TV studio. Read Story.
Industry language holding back income protection take-up
Cover magazine: The Exeter states that its research of 1,021 working adults in the UK, conducted in October last year, found that one of the main barriers in raising awareness of the importance of protection was the use of technical language and jargon using by the industry. Read Story.
Three in four retail staff want mobile-based L&D
Personnel Today: Almost three-quarters (74%) of frontline retail workers would welcome mobile-based learning opportunities, but only 14% currently receive training in this way. According to technology company Yoobic, which supplies digital tools to frontline workers, 47% of retail staff want training to be delivered digitally, but many employers are not meeting this wish. Read Story.
Employers must be wary of laws surrounding automated decisions
Personnel Today: Employers using AI to make decisions about recruitment and performance need to be mindful of the laws surrounding workers’ rights, it has been warned, after a court ordered Uber to pay more than €100 in damages to drivers whose contracts had been unfairly terminated following technology-driven decisions. Read Story.
One in seven LGBT+ women and non-binary people not open about sexuality at work, poll finds
People Management: Around one in seven LGBT+ women and non-binary people are not open about their sexuality with anyone at work, a poll has found. Read Story.
Employees crave notification-free day due to rising emails
HR Magazine: The majority (89%) of employees said sorting through an inbox of unopened emails is one of the most unpleasant parts of working remotely. The rising number of emails, messages and video meetings while remote working is leading to a growing level of employee burnout and job dissatisfaction, according to new research by email app Superhuman. Read Story.
Job seekers want employers that actively tackle burnout
HR Magazine: Over half (56%) of UK businesses have improved their work culture to focus on wellbeing and flexibility since the start of the pandemic. In order to help uphold workplace culture as lockdown ends, employers are offering more flexibility, and improving wellbeing programmes according to new research by messaging service Slack. Read Story.
27% of employers unable to create wellbeing ROI case
Employee Benefits: Data from Unum’s Value of help report has found that despite wanting to do more around employee wellbeing, more than a quarter (27%) of organisations are unable to create a business case for providing these benefits. Read Story.
Disproportionate number of young women placed on furlough, study finds
People Management: Women have been furloughed at a disproportionately higher rate than men, a study has shown, as experts say employers need to do more to retain female talent. While women make up 47 per cent of the UK’s workforce, they account for 52 per cent of people furloughed, a report from the Women’s Budget Group found. Read Story.
Mental health worsens for newly reliant on financial support
Occupational Health & Wellbeing: The mental health of people newly reliant on state benefits and financial support during the pandemic worsened far more last year than in the wider population. While mental health worsened across all groups during the Covid-19 crisis, those forced to rely on universal credit and self-employment grants to get by experienced a significant decline in their wellbeing between April 2020 and January 2021 than in the wider population, according to the study by the National Centre for Social Research. Read Story.
Advisers want unconscious bias training to avoid preconceptions of clients
Healthcare & Protection: Health and protection advisers want unconscious bias training to avoid the pitfalls of erroneously held preconceptions about their clients. The findings come from in-depth interviews with 100 advisers conducted by BVA BDRC for The Exeter which revealed some notable misconceptions often held. Read Story.
Women take steps to address gender pension gap
Corporate Adviser: Almost one in two working age women have taken action to try and redress the pension savings gap according to research from Barnett Waddingham. Their findings show 44 per cent of women with a workplace or private pension have taken steps to boost their retirement savings in light of hearing about the gender pensions gap. Read Story.
TPR and PPF issue consultation on changes to data collection
Corporate Adviser: The Pensions Regulator and Pension Protection Fund are proposing changes to the way DB schemes submit information annually on their investment strategy and assets held. The two bodies are proposing a new tiered approach, which will require more information from larger schemes, but should not unduly affect smaller entities. Read Story.
Flexible pension payments rebound after Covid crisis
Corporate Adviser: Both the number of people withdrawing money from their pensions and the size of these withdrawals have increased sharply in the last three months according to data from Hargreaves Lansdown. Read Story.