Industry news
Industry news
Moorepay launches new advice service THE PAYROLL and HR solutions specialist, Moorepay, has launched a solicitor-led employment law advisory service to give legally privileged advice for a lower-cost retainer fee. The service, which is a first for the HR, benefits and payroll sector and is being rolled out to the company’s 10,000 small- to medium-size business clients, allows access to high quality employment law support from specialist solicitors complemented by Moorepay’s HR expertise. The new service, which is also regulated to offer legal expenses insurance, makes it more cost effective and easier for HR teams to get quality legal input into employment law related decisions. Based on around 200 cases handled, including as part of a pre- launch trial, Moorepay’s employment law advice service has helped businesses reduce their risk of receiving a tribunal claim by 33%. In the event that employers find themselves at a tribunal hearing, the chances of successfully defending the claim increases by threefold for those using the Moorepay service. Andrew Weir, head of employee relations and advocacy at Moorepay stated: “The service and retainer fees can be tailored to the individual company’s needs and likely demand for ongoing solicitor support. We can also create packages tailored for larger firms that have HR and legal departments and need additional specialist support, to more fragmented businesses that may be operating across multiple sites with a need for a centralised solution.” Home-workers and work-related injury claims ACCORDING TO the Office for National Statistics, 50% of the UK workforce is expected to work remotely by 2020, which suggests employers will have to take greater care of their staff working at home or face an increasing number of claims for muscular-skeletal disorders (MSDs). In the UK today, 1.4 million workers are suffering from work- related ill health; MSDs represent 41% of all employment ill health cases; and 156,000 new cases were reported last year. Anticipating the increase in MSD claims due to poor working conditions in employees’ homes and their use of laptops outside the office in places such as airports and coffee shops, David Tait, partner at Clyde & Co and an expert on occupational diseases, comments: “Organisations will need to take greater care that their people are not harming themselves through their use of laptops and viewing display screens in sub-optimal conditions.” Cyber security guidance for pension schemes THE PENSIONS Administration Standards Association (PASA), the independent body dedicated to driving up standards in pensions administration, has published guidance providing practical support for trustees in formulating a robust and effective review of how they safeguard their scheme from cyber security issues (http://bit.ly/2IHgeu6). Chris Connolly, chair of PASA’s eAdmin Working Group, said: “Our guidance has been designed as a practical means to help identify where all risks and responsibilities lie, enabling schemes to put together a robust and effective plan of action to be taken should the worst unfortunately happen.”
Multinational businesses struggle to take payroll global RESEARCH CONDUCTED by the Global Payroll Alliance, in association with SD Worx, a leading provider in payroll and HR services, shows that many multi-country businesses still do not have sufficient visibility over the payroll function. The findings reveal that the main challenges for such organisations are: ● reporting across all of their payroll operations ● finding information on legislation and compliance and local legislation knowledge. Other key findings include: ● 12% of businesses do not use smart technology to handle payroll processes ● although 38% of respondents don’t know whether their organisation would benefit from robotic process automation being introduced into the payroll function, 44% think this will benefit payroll, citing delivery of higher quality performance. Jean-Luc Barbier, vice president global solutions, SD Worx, comments: “By digitizing payroll and HR processes to the maximum, companies can gain valuable data-based insights that can help support their transformation. In addition, they must also invest in the continuous training of their employees. If not, there is a high risk that the benefits of the new technology will be completely lost.” commented: “GDPR has already led to positive results but companies must continue to work to maintain data security and ensure their employees feel confident about the way their employers hold and process their personal data.” GDPR increase employee confidence in data security THE A DP Workforce View in Europe 2019 , which surveyed over 10,000 employees throughout Europe, found employees feel more confident about data security since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in 2018. More than half of respondents (53%) – a rise of six points since 2018 – say that they feel confident that their data is stored responsibly and securely by their employer. However, more than a quarter (26%) of UK employees still worry about the security of their personal data. The biggest concern amongst UK employees is that they have no control over the data being stored (11%), followed by worries that their organisation’s systems are vulnerable to cyber-attacks or data breaches (9%). A further 8% are concerned that too much data is being held without their consent. Cécile Georges, ADP chief privacy officer,
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 52 | July/August 2019
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