The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
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Can Flexible working contracts to be rolled out across Amazon UK Published: 30 May 2023 Emailed: 31 May 2023
Amazon has trialled and is now rolling out two new contract types to allow workers in its fulfilment centres to work more flexibly.
The first of these contracts will allow workers who have a responsibility to look after school-age children to work during term times only. This will give them the full six-week summer holiday off as well as the usual holiday periods. Normal benefits will not be affected with this contract type. The second flexibility options will allow employees to choose between part-day, full-day, preferred night or day shifts and weekend shifts on a contract with a minimum of 80 hours per month. This will offer flexibility to cover personal commitments.
This has been brought in as a result of staff feedback and will be rolled out to all fulfilment centres later this year after successful trials at two of its centres.
With Amazon being such a huge force in the labour market, these contracts will be studied closely by other large organisations. Will Amazon be the catalyst to drive change in employment practices across multiple businesses and sectors?
While this step forward is good for employees, this is happening alongside GMB’s fight to become the first union to represent its workers in Europe. GMB is currently in the process of applying for statutory recognition.
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Nest insight: Earned Wage Access research Published: 12 July 2023 Emailed: 19 July 2023
Nest Insight has conducted research into the use of Earned Wage Access (EWA) and workplace loan solutions in supporting financial wellbeing in the workplace. As EWA becomes more popular and employers search for more ways to play a part in supporting wellbeing research like this will be pivotal in our understanding of the schemes and how we can best implement them. The CIPP policy team get asked about EWA a lot, and our thoughts and feelings can be personal and circumstantial. So, lets dive into this research and see if we can pull out some key findings that can inform our decisions in this area and be better informed.
To ensure we are all on the same page, here is Nest’s explanation of EWA:
Employees can access some of the pay they’ve already earned before their usual pay day. They’re able to access small amounts of money quickly, usually through a third- party app. There’s often a small fee of £1 to £2 to use the service, although sometimes this fee is subsidised by the employer. The amount of pay that can be accessed is usually limited, for example to 25% to 50% of earned wages.
According to the report, only one in ten employers currently offer the service and it is much more likely to be offered by large employers.
It may seem obvious that we need to set ourselves up for good financial footing, but there are a number of ways in which poor financial footing can effect low and medium income earners. The report identifies six key financial footings:
Improving financial resilience today
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1. Escaping the poverty premium 2. Managing unpredictable or seasonal income 3. Reacting to financial shocks
› Planning for financial needs in the future
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4. Budgeting for smaller events that can be planned for 5. Building resource for milestone events
cipp.org.uk
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