HR World: 4/15

Want to secure your pension? That’ll be €4.6 quadrillion, please

No one likes receiving demands for money, but a part-time worker in Germany was even less pleased than usual when she received a letter asking her for pension contributions – of €4,632,124,357,000,001.

The sum of €4.6 quadrillion (yes, that is a real word) is equivalent to around £3.4 quadrillion, or more than a thousand times Germany’s entire GDP for 2014, according to The Local.

As a part-timer, the woman, who lives in the Baden-Württemberg region, was expecting a bill in the low three figures, so was understandably somewhat perturbed – although presumably less so than if the sum had actually been debited from her account.

Apologising for the mistake, pensions office spokesman Wolfgang Buschfort told Germany’s DPA News Agency: “As far as I know, this is the only time anyone has been sent such a large incorrect payment demand.”

He said the error had occurred when a pensions office worker had inadvertently copied a customer number into the form rather than the sum owed, but that it had been spotted before any attempt to take the money had been made. He added that a service employing more than 26,000 people would inevitably make mistakes.

Majority of Americans manage personal affairs at works

You know the scenario. It’s quiet in the office, the boss is out and the phone’s not ringing – it’s the perfect chance to pay that bill / book your holiday / start looking for a new nanny (delete as appropriate).

Let’s face it, most of us have at one time or another managed our personal affairs at work, so it should come as little surprise that our friends across the Pond are just as likely to do the same. According to a recent poll by Workplace Options, a global provider of employee wellbeing services, 87 per cent of Americans have occasionally dealt with personal issues (defined as financial, legal, dependent care or daily living matters) during the working day.

What is somewhat more surprising – and worrying – is that around a third of all workers (31 per cent) say they spend several working hours a week managing their private lives, while half (50 per cent) of 18- to 29-year-olds admit to doing so.

Twenty per cent of respondents cited childcare and family issues as the leading cause of lost productivity at work, while 17 per cent identified online research for items unrelated to work as the biggest time-waster.

“A lot of companies out there, especially larger employers, are looking at ways to more effectively support employees and help them focus on the job they’re being paid to do,” said Dean Debnam, CEO of Workplace Options. “But most of these efforts focus on employees’ emotional and physical well-being. It’s clear from this poll that a lot of people also need practical assistance to help them deal with things like financial, legal, and dependent care issues.”

Sixty-eight per cent of respondents said their employers did not currently offer any programmes or services to help them manage their personal lives, but 64 per cent said they thought these would be a valuable resource – if offered at no cost to the employee.

Yogic benefits for Indian civil servants

The Indian government has come up with a novel way of helping its workers remain healthy and sharp: free early-morning yoga lessons.

The two-hour classes, which start at 6.30am, are being offered in 26 locations in Delhi and 14 locations across eight other cities in partnership with the government-funded Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga. A second round of lessons for employees’ families is also being offered in the afternoon, according to the Hindustan Times.

The initiative – which was launched on 1 April – is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attributes his mental and physical agility to daily yoga practice.

US workers leave wellness incentives on the table

American employers are spending more than ever on corporate wellness programmes – but less than half of employees are taking full advantage of incentives to participate.

A survey by Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) revealed that US companies will spend an average of $693 per employee on wellness-based incentives in 2015, up from $594 last year and $430 five years ago.

Overall, 79 per cent of American employers offer health improvement programmes, with spending in this area particularly high among companies with more than 20,000 workers – an average of $878 per head in 2015 (up from $717 in 2014), compared with $661 (up from $493) among companies with 5,000-20,000 workers.

The most popular programmes among employers this year are biometric screenings (offered by 72 per cent), health risk assessments (70 per cent) and physical activity programmes (54 per cent), with financial incentives such as cash, gift cards, reduced healthcare premiums or contributions to a healthcare account typically offered to encourage employees to participate.

However, the survey showed that less than half (47 per cent) of workers earned their full incentive amount last year, while only 26 per cent more earned a partial amount – representing millions of dollars in unclaimed incentives.

Robert Kennedy, health and welfare practice leader with Fidelity’s benefits consulting business, said: “The next challenge for companies is to continue to find ways to increase participation in these programmes and encourage employees to earn the full incentive amount available to them, which will contribute to their financial wellbeing as well as their physical health.”

About the author

Rhianon Howells

The former editor of a leading trade magazine, Rhianon Howells has extensive experience of writing for both business and consumer titles, including The Guardian. In addition to writing about HR, she specialises in health, fitness, leisure and hospitality.