The crisis in the UK pension system often leads to calls for employers to do more. This is because companies have in the past played a major part in retirement provision because it suited them to do so. But times have changed and so has the role that companies play in providing pensions. By Lee Jagger, partner and head of corporate pension advisory, KPMG.
| Published: 29 July 2008
Everyone likes to be recognised and thanked for a job well done or to be acknowledged for continued loyal service to an organisation. It makes people feel good about themselves, happy in the workplace and more motivated to continue working hard and improving.
| Published: 23 July 2008
The Government has estimated that around seven million people are not saving enough for their retirement and in order to tackle this problem and prevent future generations from retiring in poverty, the decision was taken to introduce automatic enrolment and the Personal Accounts scheme in 2012.
| Published: 27 June 2008
Based on my (admittedly unscientific) vox pops over the years talking to taxi drivers and the like, people see little distinction between the Mirror Group scandal, Personal Pension misselling, the Equitable Life collapse as well as other more minor industry failings, lumping them all together under the general perception that ‘pensions are a rip-off’.
| Published: 27 June 2008
Successful employee recognition programmes reinforce a company’s core values by recognising and rewarding employee results that reflect those values. A powerful approach to recognition can align an entire workforce behind a company’s key goals and mission, directly impacting company performance and building a satisfied employee – and customer – base.
| Published: 24 June 2008
HR professionals spend most of their time developing their personnel. But they can’t afford to forget about their own progression. Professor Khalid Aziz, chairman of The Aziz Corporation explains that HR directors need to share good and bad news, communicate change and implement strategies amongst seniors and staff. In short, their communication skills must be second to none.
| Published: 11 April 2008
In the modern workplace employees have the ability to communicate in a manner that would be unrecognisable twenty years ago. From an era when the majority of work related communications were completed on company letterhead, the professional world has embraced the technology of faxes, pagers, mobile phones, video conferencing, email and instant messaging. With so many different outlets, ensuring that employee communications adhere to a company’s ethical standards can be a daunting task for an HR director.
| Published: 29 February 2008
Demands on HR these days is more business driven requiring real strategic thinking and a demonstrable contribution to strategic business priorities. The increasing strategic role of HR at Board level is well illustrated at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), responsible for building better services and outcomes for young people and their families.
| Published: 30 January 2008
Many of today's business leaders see innovation as the key to sustained business growth. Dr Graeme Ditchburn, research director at Towers Perrin ISR, examines how organisational culture sets innovative organisations apart, suggesting that they have cultures that enable them to generate new ideas, select the products and services that capture the imagination of their customers and launch them before the competition.
| Published: 29 January 2008
Few actually believe that their organisations are able to adequately respond to the growing issues and challenges of workforce demographics and changes around the world. A Global Awareness Tracking Survey released by Accenture at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, found that issues around talent dominate the thoughts of senior executives at some of the world’s largest companies.
| Published: 29 January 2008
